Sheshadri Named Simons Society Junior Fellow
Aditi Sheshadri, a postdoctoral research scientist working with Prof. Lorenzo M. Polvani, was named a Junior Fellow of the Simons Society of Fellows. She will receive three years of support from the foundation, including a yearly stipend, research allowance, and fringe benefits funds.
Dr. Sheshadri has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the R. V. College of Engineering in Bangalore, India, and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science in June 2015. Her doctoral thesis advisor was Professor R. Alan Plumb.
Sheshadri’s research interests are in atmosphere and ocean dynamics, climate variability, and general circulation. She is particularly interested in stratospheric dynamics and stratosphere-troposphere interactions, as well as natural modes of variability of the climate system and their possible relation to its response to external forcing. Her doctoral work focused on the dynamics and variability of the stratospheric polar vortices in both hemispheres, and the impact of their variability on surface weather and climate. Her recent work has been aimed at understanding the dramatic collapse of the stratospheric westerlies that occur in the wintertime northern hemisphere and at the end of winter in both hemispheres. These events have implications for surface climate, since they result in persistent perturbations to surface weather. Another focus has been the investigation of mechanisms linking Southern Hemisphere tropospheric climate changes to the ozone hole. At Columbia, she will continue to study the circulation of the troposphere and stratosphere, eddy-mean flow feedbacks, modes of variability of the midlatitude jet and storm tracks, the role of interactive chemistry in modeling stratosphere-troposphere interactions, and the role of the stratosphere in setting the state of climates of the past.
To learn more about the Junior Fellows and the Simons Foundation, please see:
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/simons-society-of-fellows/junior-fellows/