Dr. Lin H. Chambers
![[Lin's photo (8/00)]](larc-lhc.jpg)
My
official job title is Physical Scientist, climate and radiation studies.
I work for the Climate Science Branch within the Science
Directorate. I am also the director of a K-12 educational outreach
program called the CERES S'COOL Project.
S'COOL - Students' Cloud Observations On-Line - is a project which involves school children in real science. They provide ground truth measurements to assist in the validation of the CERES instrument. They can also compare the surface- and space-based observations to learn more about clouds and climate. My particular job for CERES now is to study the issues of Time Interpolation and Spatial Averaging (TISA). Basically, we have the challenge of taking a satellite measurement from one (sometimes two) times each day and turning that into a value that is representative of the whole 24 hour period. This requires some modeling of the diurnal cycle and also incorporation of other data sources. The main skills required are programming and statistical analysis. Recently, I also became involved in the GLOBE program where I am the scientist for the contrail protocol. I've also started a new project called MY NASA DATA in which we take large and complex atmospheric data sets and make them accessible to the K-12 and citizen scientist communities. I got to this point in my career through a rather convoluted path. I've always been good at math and science. My dad is a physicist and used to take my brother and me into his lab. When I was in high school, however, physics research was not very well funded and jobs were scarce. Dad therefore suggested that I choose a different field. Since I spent quite a bit of time on airplanes as a child, I decided to choose aerospace/aeronautical engineering. I attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where I obtained Bachelor's and Master's degrees. While there, I also began a Co-operative Education Program with NASA. In this program, I spent alternate semesters at school and then working at NASA - for pay and for experience. During my second Co-op assignment, I had a great project in the Aerothermodynamics Branch at NASA Langley, studying boundary layer transition on returning Space Shuttles. Transition is a big issue for both heating and drag. When I graduated, I was hired into that branch and spent 8 years with them. During this time I worked on my Ph.D. at North Carolina State University through NASA Langley's Graduate Education Program, completing a degree in Aerospace Engineering. My emphasis was on radiative heating to vehicles entering a planetary atmosphere - an issue that is important, and little understood, for very high speed interplanetary flight. Around the time I completed my Ph.D. (early 90s) there were not very many high speed missions needing radiative heating calculations in the works. Most of the missions in the last several years have been at lower speeds, where radiative heating is not a big factor. At the same time, the CERES project was getting started and needed more help. I interviewed. Because the basic theory of what I was studying - the radiative transfer equation - applies just as well to solar energy in the atmosphere as to heating around an atmospheric entry vehicle, I was asked to join CERES in 1994. Since then, I have learned a great deal on the job about Atmospheric Science, clouds and climate. I have also taken some additional classes to fill in basic knowledge. In my experience, learning never ends - and shouldn't. My daughter was born in 1996, while I was still learning about this new field. This combination of factors got me very interested in helping school students learn about our research. S'COOL grew out of this interest. Part of my motivation is to help younger students be aware of atmospheric science as a career option. I really enjoy learning about the Earth's atmosphere, and being part of a research team that will help answer questions about humans' impact on our climate. Had I known when I was in high school that I could make a living studying clouds, I probably would have started on this path earlier.
What else is important to know? Well, if you made it [reading] this far it's because I learned to express myself in writing fairly well - a key skill for a scientist or engineer. If you can't tell people what you did or what you have learned, you may as well not have done it.
Outside work I spend a lot of time with my family, of course. Other hobbies are yardwork (pulling weeds is great for relaxation!), reading, volleyball, skiing, hiking, riding bikes, and knitting - and of course, watching clouds. I drive a hybrid gas-electric car to work as my personal contribution to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.What else is important to know? Well, if you made it [reading] this far it's because I learned to express myself in writing fairly well - a key skill for a scientist or engineer. If you can't tell people what you did or what you have learned, you may as well not have done it.
Outside work I spend a lot of time with my family, of course. Other hobbies are yardwork (pulling weeds is great for relaxation!), reading, volleyball, skiing, hiking, riding bikes, and knitting - and of course, watching clouds. I also ride either my motorscooter or my hybrid gas-electric car to work as my personal contribution to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. NOVEMBER 2004
