Our Team
Describe your team here.
I am a Ph.D. student at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. My research in the Westervelt Aerosol Group focuses on air quality, atmospheric aerosols, air sensors, ultrafine particles, and satellite remote sensing. I use ground-based observations from air-sensor networks and regulatory monitoring data, integrating them with satellite and reanalysis products to characterize particulate pollution and its sources. I also regularly engage in community outreach, educating citizens about air quality and pollution.
Paulson is the founder of WASARU in DR Congo and a long time collaborator with the Westervelt group, working on air quality in DR Congo.
LDEO Summer intern working on ultrafine particle emissions at high traffic sites in NYC.
Kathryn Cheng is a Ph.D. student co-advised by Prof. Ben Bostick and Prof. Dan Westervelt. Her research focuses on aerosol formation and chemical composition, combining field methods, analytical chemistry, and computational modeling to study the effects of aerosols on human health and the environment. She earned her B.S. in Geology from the University of Toronto in 2023. Outside the lab, Kathryn enjoys playing tennis and the violin.
Joe works on the Regional Aerosol Model Intercomparison Project, specifically on air quality and climate changes over Africa under future regional emissions scenario changes.
Starting August 2026. Aerosol chemical mechanisms, modeling, GEOS-Chem, health, satellites.
Dr. Daniel M. Westervelt is an Associate Research Professor (Senior Staff) at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University in the City of New York. Dr. Westervelt is also an affiliate faculty member of the Columbia University Data Science Institute, an affiliated scientist with NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and an air pollution advisor to the US State Department. He is also a Columbia University Climate and Life Fellow. He was awarded the 2024-2025 Faculty Mentorship Award for Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His current research spans climate change and atmospheric chemistry and physics using models, advanced in-situ instrumentation, and remote sensing, with an emphasis on applications in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Prior to his faculty position at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, he worked as an Associate Research Scientist at LDEO, and as a Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. He completed his PhD degree in May 2013 in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
LINK TO MY CV
I am a postdoctoral research scientist in Westervelt Aerosol Lab at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. My research interests include building machine/deep learning models for estimating air pollutants using satellite remote sensing datasets, validated with ground-level sensors in sub-Saharan Africa, and investigate correlation between air pollution and socioeconomic disparities.
- PhD, Carnegie Mellon University. 2024
- MPhil, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 2020
- MS, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 2017
- BTech, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. 2015