Welcome
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I am a PhD student in Earth System Science at the University of California Irvine studying socioeconomic carbon feedbacks. More broadly I am interested in breaking down the complexities of social and economic trends to understand how they impact and are impacted by climate change in the long term. I spend my free time volunteering with local non-profit organizations, playing with my cats, and adventuring in the nearby deserts, canyons, and mountains.
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Dawn Leigh Woodard
PhD Student
Email:
Address:
240W Rowland Hall
Irvine, CA 92697
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Lab Website:
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RECENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
2014-Present
Research Assistant
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE
I am currently in my fifth year working on a PhD in Earth System Science at the University of California Irvine studying socioeconomic carbon feedbacks. My work is focused on understanding how socioeconomic components interact with temperature and carbon dioxide emissions in global feedbacks that can dramatically impact our climate system over decades and centuries. My most recent paper in PNAS estimated these feedbacks in comparison against carbon feedbacks driven by natural components of the Earth system. This work has been presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, The Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, and the 10th International Carbon Dioxide Conference. I am currently working on predicting US fossil fuel emissions in the near term using time series forecasting techniques.
2012-2014
Research Assistant
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Working under Dr. Eric Marland and Dr. Gregg Marland I contributed to NASA's Carbon Monitoring System Flux Pilot Project, analyzing uncertainty of point source data of carbon dioxide emissions. I designed Monte Carlo simulation in R to characterize spatial distribution of emissions and refine the associated uncertainty. My work was presented at the 2014 Appalachian Energy Summit, the 2013 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, Biomathematics, Ecology: Education and Research 2013, and ASU's Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors in 2012 and 2013. This work was published in Environmental Science and Policy and Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Management.
EDUCATION
2014-present
Seeking PhD in Earth System Science
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE
I am currently in my fifth year working on a PhD in Earth System Science at the University of California Irvine studying socioeconomic carbon feedbacks with Dr. James Randerson.
2010-2014
B.S. in Mathematics, conc. in Life Sciences
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY
I got my undergraduate degree in applied mathematics, taking courses outside of my major discipline in sustainable development, appropriate technology, and environmental science, and doing research on data uncertainty for anthropogenic point source carbon dioxide emissions, and did summer projects on pesticide alternatives, modelling the immune response to cancer, and a survey of urban birds in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
2008-2010
High School Diploma
NC SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
I spent my last two years of high school at a residential magnet high school for math and science in Durham, North Carolina.
SKILLS
GIS
Python
Matlab
R
LaTeX
Mathematical Modeling
OTHER PASSIONS
Sustainability
I volunteer as a consultant with SeedOC, a non-profit that does pro-bono consulting for other non-profits with sustainable, environmentally-driven missions. As of spring 2019, I have worked on projects for the US Green Chamber of Commerce, the American Civil Liberties Union, Algalita, Western Growers Foundation, Integrous Women, and the Wyland Foundation.
Relationships, Sexuality, and Gender
I'm passionate about relationships and sexuality and promoting education around consent, boundaries, open communication and breaking down barriers imposed by gender and cultural norms. I am the co-organizer of Sex Positive Los Angeles, a non-profit of 2600 members that seeks to promote a sex positive culture in Los Angeles by fostering community and running educational workshops, discussion groups, and other events.
STEM Education
I am on the board of CLEAN Education, a local non-profit that brings climate science to middle school classrooms in Orange County, as well as to other groups. As someone who is actively working in the science field I value being able to bring my science to students as well as being able to be a role model and answer their questions about science, graduate school, and everything in between.
AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS
