IRTG Travel Grants Programme

PhD candidate Theresa Kiszler went for a Research Stay to the University of Colorado in Boulder

I visited the Institute of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at University of Colorado Boulder  in August 2022 for two weeks. I decided to go there because I wanted to visit Jennifer Kay’s working group and because Boulder is an atmospheric science hub. During my stay I got to know several PhD students as well as senior scientists throughout the institute. I was able to present my work in the group meeting and engage in discussions relating to my PhD thesis objectives and how they possibly fit into the larger context of Arctic amplification. In my PhD I am working on simulations around Ny-Alesund (Svalbard) and using observations from there to study the representation of the clouds in the model. Especially the mixed-phase clouds are interesting as they have a high complexity and as we found the model we use (ICON-LEM) overestimates the ice occurrence in clouds. For the upcoming steps I had discussions with Jennifer as well as Matthew Schupe who also works in Boulder and is a Mercator Fellow in (AC)³. Both work on topics related to Arctic clouds. It was helpful to have these conversations and I felt more inspired afterwards. Besides the scientific input I also enjoyed the experience of being at an institute in a different country. I believe this broadened my perspective significantly and challenged me to think about different approaches to science and academia in general. Sadly, many of the institutes such as NCAR  (National Center for Atmospheric Research) were closed to guest due to the continuing Covid restrictions. Nevertheless, I took the time to drive past these locations to do some science tourism which was fun. I also visited a forest which was regrowing after recent wildfires and went on a weekend trip through the Rocky Mountains National Park with a friend. It was generally quite hot during my stay (> 30°C every day) but that made it easier to focus on my work in front of the computer during the hot hours and enjoy the fantastic nature during the cooler hours of the day.

A list of all funded travel grants can be found on the IRTG page here.