Neil is an applied climate scientist with the overarching goal of increasing climate resilience and sustainability in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

His recent research and interests focus on changes in the California hydrological cycle — particularly how snowpack, precipitation, and extreme events may change in the future, and the impacts of these changes on the region’s water resources, energy security, and agricultural productivity. This work involves analyzing global climate models and conducting cutting-edge regional climate simulations using supercomputers.

Recognizing that we live in integrated physical and social systems, Neil is passionate about extending the results of regional climate simulations to practitioners, policy makers, and officials to guide decision-making and planning efforts across LA. He believes that the co-development of climate resilience solutions between scientists and stakeholders is necessary for mitigating and adapting to changing environmental conditions.

Neil obtained a PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from UCLA and a BS in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before returning to UCLA in 2017, he spent two years at the RAND Corporation in their Washington, DC, office, where he served as Program Manager for the NOAA Mid-Atlantic RISA program. Although he is an east coast native, he happily enjoys living and working in sunny and vibrant LA.