PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, USA
efmh.berkeley.edu/alexconnolly
adac@berkeley.edu
Languages
English
Spanish
Personal Statement
Alex employs numerical weather prediction models at high resolutions to investigate the atmospheric boundary-layer and alpine micrometeorology. He is particularly interested in slope flows, cold-air pools, and mountain wakes as well as improving the numerical methods to study such phenomena, especially turbulence modeling and subgrid parameterization.
Education
University of California, Berkeley
PhD Environmental Engineering
Dec 2020
Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology
Dissertation title:
Large-eddy simulation of complex terrain effects on atmospheric boundary-layer turbulence and stable flow phenomena
Minors in Atmospheric Science and Numerical Methods
University of California, Berkeley
MS Environmental Engineering
Dec 2014
Environmental Engineering Program
Lewis & Clark College
BA Mathematics
May 2013
magna cum laude
Research Experience
UC Berkeley
Perdigão Project.
Advisor: F.K. Chow
2019 - 2021
Demonstrated utility of a novel turbulence generation technique, the cell perturbation method, for real-weather large-eddy simulations over complex terrain.
Determined the efficacy of the cell perturbation method under various atmospheric stability regimes and with various model input topography through computed energy spectra associated with velocity.
Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations Program.
Advisor: F.K. Chow
2014 - 2019
Used large-eddy simulation to study lee-vortices and cold-air pools which formed in stable conditions around a desert mountain.
Tested sensitivity of model biases to the initialization of soil moisture to attribute model warm biases to unresolved dynamic cooling.
Hypothesized new constraints on model time steps related to steep slopes.
Idealized Simulations of Drainage Flow.
Advisor: F.K. Chow
2014 - Current
Wrote and used numerical models for investigating the dynamics of drainage flows, a.k.a. katabatic flows.
Solved novel boundary-value problem as an explanation for observed dependence of the wind maximum of drainage flow on the slope of the terrain.
Modeled, for the first time with full atmospheric physics, the transient development of drainage flows after modifying a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction code.
Lewis & Clark College
Gulf Of Tehuantepec Experiment.
Advisor: Jessica Kleiss
2012
Studied deep water breaking waves using aircraft data.
Employed statistical analysis to test the fit of analytical distributions to empirical distributions on the size of whitecaps.
Publications
Connolly, A., L. Van Veen, B.J. Geurts, J. Mirocha, and F.K. Chow. 2021. Efficacy of the cell perturbation method in large-eddy simulations of boundary layer flow over complex terrain. Atmosphere 12(1), 55, doi.org/10.3390/atmos12010055
Connolly, A., F.K. Chow, and S.W. Hoch. 2020. Nested large-eddy simulations of the displacement of a cold-air pool by lee vortices. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 178(1), 91--118, doi.org/10.1007/s10546-020-00561-6
Connolly, A., and F.K. Chow. Onset of drainage flows in idealized large-eddy simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. In preparation.
Conference Presentations
Connolly, A.D., L. Van Veen, W.H.M. Wendels, J.D. Mirocha, and F.K. Chow. Development offine-scale structures in large-eddy simulations over complex terrain. AMS 19th Conference on Mountain Meteorology (Summer 2020).
Video
Connolly, A.D., and F.K. Chow. Large-eddy simulations over Granite Mountain using WRF. AMS 17th Conference on Mountain Meteorology (Summer 2016).
Video
Anderson-Connolly, A., F.K. Chow, and S.W. Hoch. Simulations of large temperature fluctuations on the lee side of a mountain due to interactions between an orographic wake and a cold air pool. AGU Fall Meeting 2016.
Anderson-Connolly, A., and F.K. Chow. Mountain micrometeorology modeling in WRF. Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) Program’s 5th Investigator Meeting. Fall 2015.
Connolly, A., L. Van Veen, and F.K Chow. The Cell Perturbation Method for turbulence generation in nested large-eddy simulations for the Perdigão Field Campaign. AGU Fall Meeting 2019.
Poster
Teaching Experience
UC Berkeley
Graduate Student Instructor
Graduate Level Courses
Fall 2019: Environmental Fluid Mechanics CIV ENG 200A
Spring 2017: Air Quality Engineering CIV ENG 218A
Fall 2015: Environmental Fluid Mechanics
Undergraduate Level Courses
Spring 2018: Introduction to Computer Programming for Scientists and Engineers ENGIN 7
Spring 2015: Elementary Fluid Mechanics CIV ENG 100
Lewis & Clark College
Teaching Assistant
Fall 2012 - Spring 2013: Physics Laboratory
Awards
UC Berkeley
Civil & Environmental Engineering Department Fellowship
2013 - 2014
Lewis & Clark College
John S. Rogers Science Program
2012
Academic Service
UC Berkeley
Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology (EFMH) Research Group
Meeting Organizer
2017 - 2019
Organized weekly meetings for the EFMH research group.(efmh.berkeley.edu)
Coordinated presentations given by visiting scholars as well as the graduate students and postdocs ofthe EFMH group.
Office Manager
2017 - 2019
General responsibility for multiple shared office spaces.
In charge of maintaining printer functionality, troubleshooting internet connectivity, and tracking office space availability.