Your new SNP board
A new era begins! Since the last newsletter a new Students and New Professionals executive board has been appointed. In case you didn’t see it already, get to know us with this short introductory video:
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In conversation with the outgoing SNP board
With new beginnings, it’s also a time to express gratitude and appreciation. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the outgoing members of the SNP board - Angela Lees (Chair), Dan Vecellio (Secretary), and Yuliya Dyzuban (Communications). Their dedication and contributions have helped keep the SNP group alive through the past 3 years.
In this special feature, we had the opportunity to talk with the former executive board members about their experiences, insights and impact they made during their tenure. Additionally, they share their perspectives on the evolving field of biometeorology and offer advice for our current SNP members.
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How did you first become involved in the SNP, and then later the executive board?
Angela: I was first introduced to the SNP group and ISB in 2014 when my PhD supervisor (John Gaughan) encouraged me to submit an abstract for the meeting in Cleveland. Here I met Jenni Vanos who at the time was the SNP chair. John at the time was also the treasurer for ISB. It was such a wonderful group of people and felt so welcomed by everyone, made heaps of connections with people who I consider as friends to this day.
Dan: I first got involved with ISB and SNP at the 2014 Congress in Cleveland, OH, USA. My advisor, Dr. Jennifer Vanos, helped to get the SNP going and she included me in that after I became her student. Because I knew a lot about social media, she had me become the official tweeter of @biometeorology which then led to the position of Communications Director on the SNP being created and myself taking on that role.
Yuliya: I was introduced to the SNP by Jennifer Vanos, ISB Vice-President, who is faculty at ASU where I was a PhD student. She told me about the upcoming SNP workshop in the Netherlands and I decided to apply. SNP workshop was my first exposure to the ISB group where I met some of the leadership team and many other early career scholars with whom I am still in touch. It was an extremely beneficial experience with several professional development opportunities, including a collaborative paper which became my first publication. I was interested in maintaining connection to the group so I applied for the Communications Director position for the SNP group. I was also involved with the executive board as an Asia Counselor since I worked in Singapore at the time. I was recently elected as a Vice President for the ISB for the next triennium.
How has the SNP evolved since you first became a part of it?
Angela: Interestingly, I think that the group has changed with the times the most. In a pre covid world we use to meet at ICB or the international workshops, now I think we are more connected on a global scale its easier to communicate its easier to see people and form stronger connections with each other. I think we have also seen the group evolve into a bigger community that has welcoming feel to it for everyone (but this has always been here).
Yuliya: Most of my SNP involvement happened during COVID which catalyzed several changes. Naturally, all activities had to be conducted virtually which prompted us to develop online workshops and research sessions. This shift has increased our awareness of accessibility and inclusivity especially for members with limited resources to join in-person events. We were able to attract participants from more regions and institutions. Since then, SNP has increased its commitment to DEI via including virtual and hybrid events.
How has your time been on the board over the last 3 years? What were some highlights? What were some challenges you faced?
Angela: I have enjoyed the experience, I’ve learnt a lot about mentorship and leadership and myself. Being a part of ISB is so rewarding. I know that there is always room for improvement and its great to bounce ideas off other people. What were some highlights? ICB in Tempe for sure, it was incredible to see so many new people interested in this group and the society! We are a small society but we are mighty and the future of where the ISB group goes I believe is so strongly connected with the SNP. What were some challenges you faced? Covid has to be the big one, trying to provide leadership through a global pandemic was really challenging. Everyone was going through the same thing but encountered different challenges. We tried to find pathways to keep momentum, but it was hard.
Dan: The last three years of board activity was obviously affected by the pandemic. We had many plans coming in that were not able to come to fruition because of how the world changed. However, I think that over the course of the period, we learned how to do better in the Zoom age highlighted by the research seminars we hosted in 2021 and 2022.
Yuliya: The highlights were the activities that we conducted for SNP members. We had several research spotlights and skill-building sessions. Finding speakers as well as aligning our own time commitments was a challenging part.
What are you doing now and what are you most looking forward to this year?
Angela: Mid-last year I accepted a new position at The University of Queensland as a Teaching and Research Academic (on what most people would know as a tenure track position). In the society I am currently one of the co- Editor in Chiefs and I lead the animal pilar of IJBM our flagship journal. 2024 I hope is a year of balance for me, I want to get to this time next year and be happy with what I have achieved. A part of this is having a sense of “finding my feet” at UQ and having a good balance with my teaching and research. But mostly try to be a good human and give back as much as I can.
Dan: I'm currently a postdoc at George Mason University and am looking for tenure track positions which allow me to continue to research climate and health. Within the Society, I just took over the role of North American Councilor on the ISB Executive Board. I'm looking forward to building more regional connections in the Society.
Yuliya: I just started a new position as an Assistant Professor of MS Sustainable Environmental Systems at Pratt Institute. I am looking forward to having a productive semester and to start new collaborations with local organizations to increase heat resilience in NYC.
What do you hope for over the next 3 years with the SNP? What initiatives do you hope to see?
Angela: I hope the SNP continues to grow and establish networks for “young” people across the globe. This is a hard one for me, because I think there is so much potential for this group. I think it is only limited by imagination and willingness to be involved.
Dan: I hope that this cycle will allow for another SNP workshop to commence now that the world has settled into a new normal. The workshops are indispensable for meeting colleagues, networking, and setting out research paths
Yuliya: I hope to see more consistent engagement of the SNP group. Setting up time to pitch research ideas, work on publications, provide time for feedback and support could be valuable.
What would be your advice for Students and New Professionals in the field of biometeorology?
Angela: Be connected to this group – ISB and this group have been such a wonderful group to be involved with in my career to date. This group helped me realise my potential and has provided me with opportunities to grow beyond what I ever thought possible. It is also fantastic to have a collaborative group that extends across the globe!
Dan: Be sure to look holistically at the research problems you are solving and realize that the answers we come up with might not be "one size fits all".
Yuliya: It's important to strategize early on what you want to achieve eventually and develop steps for that. Utilize SNP and other groups to build a strong support network of peers and mentors that will sustain throughout your career. Do not hesitate to reach out for advice.
Are there any relevant events/conferences/workshops in the field of biometeorology this year that you are looking forward to?
Angela: I have a domestic Australian conference coming up this year (Australian Association of Animal Sciences) and I would love to try to get to the American Association of Animal Science meeting as well, but of course these are only of interest to animal sciences 😊
Yuliya: I am looking forward to the Nature for Cites Festival.
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Member spotlights
We're excited to introduce our 'Member Spotlights' section, dedicated to highlighting the remarkable work and achievements of our SNP members. In this issue we share the work of 2 SNP members: Isaac Buo and Shakir Ahmed.
To be featured in the next quarterly newsletter, please reach out to us. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, your contributions are what make our community vibrant and active.
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Isaac Buo
Shade is an essential strategy to reduce the amount of heat that humans experience outside. Shade is an important resource that lowers UV exposure, discomfort from the heat, and heat stress. I am currently working on a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that seeks to produce a novel shade score for most urban areas in the United States. Together with the V. Kelly Turner and the Heat Equity Program at UCLA’s The Luskin Center for Innovation, I am developing high resolution shade distribution maps using LiDAR data and geospatial Python workflows. The shade scores will be incorporated into American Forests’ Tree Equity Score Analyzer, an interactive web-feature with advanced intervention-planning capabilities. The shade scores combined with the socioeconomic data already embedded in the Tree Equity Score Analyzer, will be an essential tool for elevating the importance of shade as cities take action to adapt to a hotter climate and address longstanding inequities in heat exposure stemming from centuries of discriminatory land use policies.
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Shakir Ahmed
My name is Shakir Ahmed and I am currently doing my PhD at the Chair of Environmental Meteorology at the University of Kassel. I studied Geography as major at Government College University Lahore, Pakistan (BSc.), did my first masters in Geography at Istanbul University, Turkiye (MSc.) and then earned a second master ’s degree in Climate and Environmental Science at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen, Germany. I worked some years at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig before joining Kassel University.
Being a geographer, I have always been interested in understanding the various aspects of human society, interaction of environment and its inhabitants, natural processes and its impacts on its surroundings environment. My focus areas in research fields are climatology, natural hazards, remote sensing, statistical modelling and weather change detection using remote sensing and ground-based climate data analysis. The main objective of my PhD project is to develop the Kassel Urban Climate Network (KUCON). This will create a highly dense and valuable urban climate observation network in Kassel city through the installation of compact all in one (AIO) and low cost sensors (LCS) at various stations. The outcomes of this network analysis will enable the authorities and researchers in coping with the challenges like urban heat island (UHI) effect, human comfort analysis, planning and adaptation to the changing climate through climate resilient smart city designing in future. Currently, I am working on testing of various types of AIO and LCS for comparative analysis (attached picture) as the initial step in the KUCON project. Along with that, i am also involved in teaching various courses related to urban climatology, green infrastructure and meteorological observations learning at the University of Kassel.
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International Congress of Biometeorology, Arizona, 2023
The 23rd International Congress of Biometeorology, hosted by Arizona State University in May of 2023, had a record number of participating Students and New Professionals. The day before the conference started there was also an official meeting of the Students and New Professionals. For many new members this was the first opportunity to meet and get to know the SNP and the society at large, as well as an opportunity to discuss future SNP activities. We look forward to the 24th International Congress of Biometeorology to be held in Novi Sad, Serbia in 2026.
Pictured below: SNP Dinner photo at ICB23, taken by Gisel Guzman.
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SNP members at the International Conference on Urban Climate
A few months after ICB23 in Arizona, the 11th International Conference on Urban Climate (ICUC11) was held in Sydney, Australia (August 28-Sept 1, 2023). ICUC11 brought together a large number of ISB SNP members once again to discuss biometeorology in cities. A few select photos from that conference highlighted oral and poster presentations by SNP members (Jelena Dunjić and Peter Crank), as well as the SNP's counterpart group, the ICUC11 Early Career Researcher Committee where SNP member, Shreya Banerjee moderated a discussion on professional development and work-life balance. You can learn more about the ICUC and the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) at https://urban-climate.org/. There will be a special issue in the journal Urban Climate from this conference in the coming months.
Photo 1: Jelena Dunjić presenting (Credit: Peter Crank).
Photo 2: Peter Crank presenting (Credit: Yik Sin Kang).
Photo 3: ICUC11 Early Career Researcher Workshop - Professional Development panel, moderated by Dr. Shreya Banerjee (Credit: Peter Crank).
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SNP members at the FAIRNESS conference, Rome, 2023
Three SNP members - Shakir Ahmed, Veronika Květoňová, and Claire Gallacher - attended the FAIR network of micrometeorological measurements conference hosted in Rome during September, 2023. FAIRNESS is a European-based COST Action funded project which intends to improve the standardization and integration between micrometeorological measurement databases and datasets (https://www.fairness-ca20108.eu/about-action/).
Photo 1: Shakir Ahmed presenting (Credit: Claire Gallacher).
Photo 2: Claire Gallacher presenting (Credit: Shakir Ahmed).
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Recent publications
Congratulations to our members who recently published work.
* Names highlighted in bold indicate SNP members.
Crank, P.J., Middel, A., Coseo, P., Sailor, D.J., 2023. Microclimate impacts of neighborhood redesign in a desert community using ENVI-met and MaRTy. Urban Climate 52, 101702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101702
Tony Wolf, S., Cottle, R. M., Fisher, K. G., Vecellio, D. J., & Larry Kenney, W. (2023). Heat stress vulnerability and critical environmental limits for older adults. Communications Earth & Environment, 4(1), 486.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01159-9
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Upcoming conferences and workshops
Save the date for the third edition of the MeteoXchange ECS Conference, a virtual conference for early career scientists in Atmospheric Sciences and related disciplines. The event is completely free of charge. Join us on April 4th and 5th for keynote lectures, poster and oral sessions and social events.
The Climate Change and Health Research Coordinating Center, CAFÉ, will be hosting its first annual virtual conference on climate change and health on February 5-7th, 2024. Participation is free and we warmly welcome professionals working, or interested to work, in this space from across disciplines, sectors, and locations. We hope this opportunity will foster novel conversations within and between sectors such as academia, government and non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, potential funders, and industry/private sector. This conference will have an interactive and engaging structure, with panel discussions, trainings and workshops, networking opportunities, poster presentations, as well as keynote speakers.
GSTC2024 Global Sustainable Tourism Conference
The GSTC2024 Global Sustainable Tourism Conference will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, from April 23rd to April 26th, 2024. The event aims to unite global and local tourism professionals engaged in advancing and advocating for sustainable travel and tourism. This includes participants from the public sector, hotels, tour operators, corporates, online travel agencies, academic institutions, development organizations, non-governmental organizations, consultants, and a variety of other stakeholders.
The 2024 Annual Meeting of the European Meteorological Society
The 2024 Annual Meeting of the European Meteorological Society will take place as a hybrid event at the Historical University of Barcelona & online from 2 to 6 September 2024. The Annual Meetings of the EMS aim at fostering cross-fertilisation of ideas, feedback between science and applications, and the involvement of all the diverse actors in the fields of weather, climate, water and the environment. The session programme will offer many opportunities for collaboration across the entire weather and climate enterprise (public, private, academic, users, and NGOs) to benefit societies in Europe and worldwide. A thematic focus of the 2024 Annual Meeting will be on the challenges and opportunities to support the urgent transition to a climate-neutral European society.
Stay tuned for information on our first SNP session covering the topic of burnout.
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Final thoughts and Announcements
If you have any questions, comments, contributions, or ideas for submissions to the Biometeorology Quarterly Newsletter for the ISB Students and New Professionals Group, please feel free to contact Communications Director Claire Gallacher (c.gallacher@ioer.de).
Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) using the handle @biometeorology
Please be sure that your membership is up to date with the International Society of Biometeorology. This comes at a significantly discounted rates for students and new professionals, and you get some freebies with it too. To be a member of the SNP group you must be an ISB member, so check your status!
http://www.biometeorology.org/members/
Finally, please spread the word to other undergraduate and graduate students in your department about the Student and Young Professional organization within the International Society of Biometeorology!
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