Research

    ***As I am retired, I no longer supervise graduate students/post-docs. I have moved to live in Victoria on Vancouver Island to pursue new hobbies, e.g. organic gardening.***

    My group was heavily involved in the development and application of machine learning methods (esp. neural networks) in the environmental sciences, including atmospheric science, oceanography, hydrology, climate science and agricultural science.

    My new book "Introduction to Environmental Data Science", published in 2023 by Cambridge University Press (link to Errata), covers the machine learning and statistical methods used in the environmental sciences. More information is available in the book excerpt.

    My older book, "Machine Learning Methods in the Environmental Sciences", the first single-authored textbook on machine learning for environmental scientists, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2009 (link to Errata).

    Research Areas

    • Atmospheric Science
    • Environmental Science
    • Oceanography

    B.Sc. U.B.C. (1976) (combined honours in Mathematics & Physics);
    M.Sc. U.B.C. (1978) (Physics);
    Ph.D. U.B.C. (1981) (Physics and Oceanography).

    Post-doctoral:
    Cambridge University (Dept. of Applied Maths. & Theoretical Physics) 1981-82;
    University of New South Wales (School of Mathematics) 1983-85.

    Visiting Fellow, Princeton University (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) 1992.  
    Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, U.B.C., 2000.

    Professor emeritus in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (2010-).
    Professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (-2010).
    Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy (-2010).
    Chair of the Atmospheric Science Programme (2002-2007, 2008-2010).
    Member of the Institute of Applied Mathematics.


    Awards and Honours:

    President's Prize (1999), Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.
    Fellow of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (2010).
    Patterson Distinguished Service Medal (2013), Meteorological Service of Canada.
    Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (2021).
    President's Prize (2023), Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.


    Hobbies:
    Growing organic vegetables
    Singing (classical songs and arias)
    Chinese martial arts


    My curriculum vitae: