Dr. Benedicte Cuenot

 

I am the co-leader of Activity 2 in the QUANTIFY project. Being a researcher in combustion, I naturally came to study the impact of combustion in the environment when I realized that more than 90% of the energy produced in our world involves a combustion process. Today I lead a research group in a non-profit research center (http://www.cerfacs.fr) in the field of combustion, engines and furnaces. This implies impressive experiments, huge numerical simulations and a direct link to applications like rocket engines, piston engines, aeronautical gas turbines or coal furnaces. Although humanity has built its superiority on the control of fire, very little is known about this very complex phenomenon and it is a studied with passion by a lot of scientists. My motivation and interest in this field is based on the challenge of combustion understanding, but it also comes from the satisfaction to  contribute to the industrial history of our countries, and to promote the protection  of our environment.  I discovered this field during the third year of my studies at Ecole Centrale de Paris,  and after one year spent in the US I came back to France to start a PhD. Since then I never stopped the work!

 

My day-to-day job is shared between many different activities: teaching, students supervising, research,  group management, contract management, scientific expertise, conferences, etc ... Among all these tasks  my preferred ones are those where I meet students. I am supervising about ten PhD students and it is always  a real pleasure to discuss and encourage them, and to find after three years of hard work that they know much more than myself on their topic: it is then my turn to learn and I really enjoy that.

I have however one regret, that young female students do not seem interested by this type of job.  The words "engine" and "mechanics" may not be so attractive to them, but I strongly encourage young ladies to overcome their a priori and go beyond the words: they will discover an activity that is fully compatible with their personal life and that is among the most rewarding.

 

Dr Ellie Highwood

 

I lead a workpackage in QUANTIFY examining the response of  the climate system to changes in particulates, especially those from transport sources. This involves computer simulations of climate change. I am Senior Lecturer in Climate Physics in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading in the UK. I became interested in meteorology and atmospheric physics originally at the age of 15 when a friend had a weather station in the back garden.  However, I then got distracted by physics in general and  completed a wide-ranging physics undergraduate degree before  returning to meteorology to complete a PhD in 1996. Since then I have worked on various aspects of climate change including greenhouse gases, the impact of volcanic eruptions, and more recently leading measurement campaigns guiding a specially equipped aircraft through pollution plumes to look at the composition and impact of these plumes on sunlight travelling through the atmosphere.

 

These days, I have to divide my time between research, teaching and administration, so it is quite rare that I get to look at any real data myself. I am lucky in that I lead a great team of aerosol researchers and PhD students who keep  me up to date! I am also the Director of Undergraduate  Studies for Meteorology and lecture in cloud physics. I  enjoy talking about climate change to the general public and  have given talks in schools, and even pubs! Meteorology is a great subject since it affects directly both our daily  lives and the future health of our planet. It is rewarding to work in a subject area that people are genuinely interested in. My biggest challenge is juggling the different parts of my job, but at least this ensures that I am never bored.

 

Dr. Kristin Rypdal

 

I am involved in the development of emission inventories and scenarios in QUANTIFY. I am a senior research fellow at CICERO - Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo. I have studied mathematics, physics and chemistry and have a PhD in physical chemistry from the

University of Oslo (1991). After completing my PhD I changed field. I started working  in Statistics Norway where for more than 10 years I developed the national inventory emission inventory system. I started working at CICERO in 2002.

 

My main interests are emission inventories and mitigation scenarios – in particular aspects related to uncertainties, quality and verification and linkages between air quality and climate policies and I particularly enjoy interdisiplinary work. I currently work on project related to transport, forest and carbon capture and storage and black carbon.  I use much of my time for international work, in addition to Quantify,  I am a coordinating lead author on the new IPCC inventory guidelines and I am the chair of the Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections under EMEP. I am also interested in developing inventories in developing countries.


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