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Kevin Nelson

NASA Postdoctoral Program

About

Bio

Kevin Nelson received his B.S. in Meteorology from Florida Institute of Technology in 2012 and his M.S. in Atmospheric Science from University of Kansas. He finished his schooling in August 2022 with a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) in Coastal and Marine System Science, with a focus in Atmospheric Science. During his doctorate, he specialized in using GNSS radio occultation (RO) for observing the terrestrial boundary layer overt the Southern Great Plains, as well as for probing tropical cyclones and the boundary layer within. As part of his Ph.D., he also worked on neutral atmosphere GNSS RO retrievals for airborne and balloon-borne platforms made from components commercially available off-the-shelf. Kevin also completed a visiting student researcher internship at JPL in the summer of 2019, solidifying his desire to work at JPL, and was a recipient of the TAMUCC Student Research Grant for his work on GNSS RO observations of tropical cyclones.

Education

  • Ph.D. Coastal and Marine System Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
  • M.S. Atmospheric Science, University of Kansas
  • B.S. Meteorology, Florida Institute of Technology

Research Interests

  • GNSS radio occultation
  • Tropical cyclones
  • Severe weather
  • Extreme events
  • Software development
  • Boundary layer meteorology

Experience

Professional Experience

  • NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (August 2022-present)
  • Visiting Student Researcher – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Summer 2019
  • Summer Intern – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Summer 2018

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

Publications

  1. Nelson, K. J., D.B. Mechem, and Y. L. Kogan, 2016: Evaluation of Warm-Rain Microphysical Parameterizations in Mesoscale Simulations of the Cloudy Marine Boundary Layer, Mon. Wea. Rev., 144, 2137-2154. doi: 10.1175/MWR- D-15-0266.1
  2. Zhou, Y., K. J. Nelson, K. Mohr, G. Huffman, R. Levy, and M. Grecu, 2019: A Spatial-Temporal Extreme Precipitation Database from GPM IMERG. J. Geo. Phys. Res. Atmos., 124, doi: 10.1029/2019JD030449.
  3. Nelson, K. J., F. Xie, C. O. Ao, and M. I. Oyola-Merced, 2021: Diurnal Variation of the Planetary Boundary Layer Height Observed from GNSS Radio Occultation and Radiosonde Soundings over the Southern Great Plains. J. Atmos. Oceanic. Tech. 38, doi: 10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0196.1
  4. Chan, B. C., A. Goel, J. Kosh, T. G. R. Reid, C. R. Snyder, P. M. Tarantino, S. Soedarmadji, W. Soedarmadji, K. J. Nelson, F. Xie, and M. Vergalla, 2021: GNSS Radio Occultation on Aerial Platforms with Commertical Off-The-Shelf Receivers. ION GNSS Proceedings (https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.13328).
  5. Nelson, K. J., F. Xie, Chan, B. C., A. Goel, J. Kosh, T. G. R. Reid, C. R. Snyder, P. M. Tarantino, S. Soedarmadji, W. Soedarmadji, 2022: GNSS Radio Occultation Retrievals using Commercial Off-the-Shelf Receivers on a Balloon Payload. J. Geo. Phys. Res. Atmos., In review.
  6. Chan, B. C., A. Goel, J. Kosh, T. G. R. Reid, C. R. Snyder, P. M. Tarantino, S. Soedarmadji, W. Soedarmadji, K. J. Nelson, F. Xie, and M. Vergalla, 2022: Commercial GNSS Radio Occultation on Aerial Platforms with Off-the-Shelf Receivers. Navigation. Accepted for publication.