Hemanth Vepuri

Currently, I’m a graduate student at Department of Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences, West Texas A&M University, majoring in Environmental Science. In the quest of understanding the art of the Nature, so far, I have carried out research in the broad field of Atmospheric and Climate science. My research was primarily focused on understanding and characterizing the Ice-Nucleating Particles (INPs) - which influence the formation of ice crystals in clouds and many types of precipitation - which are like a ‘needle in a haystack’. INPs impact the primary cloud glaciation, precipitation and ultimately the Earth’s energy budget. However, the pathways of their influence have been an enigma and our understating of INPs is scanty so far. Therefore, my research was aimed at measuring and quantifying the INPs in the atmosphere through field measurements and laboratory experiments. Hence this research work aims to decipher the complex microphysical processes in the atmospheric clouds. This research was a part of U.S. Department of Energy funded project ‘Implications of Aerosol Physicochemical Properties Including Ice Nucleation at ARM Mega Sites for Improved Understanding of Microphysical Atmospheric Cloud Processes’. The associated research work and publications are provided in my Google Scholar profile (link - https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=vHOiO0UAAAAJ). Apart from my academic work, I volunteer for the Environmental Science Society promoting the awareness and importance of Earth’s Environment. After my graduation, I intend to pursue a career in the field of developing cloud resolving models using AI/ML techniques improving the accuracy of our global climate model projections.