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Amala Mahadevan

My interests are in physical oceanography and climate, the oceanic carbon cycle, and biogeochemical distributions. I use modeling and analysis to investigate physical ocean processes and their implications on the productivity and distribution of phytoplankton, and the transport and mixing of properties. I have developed a non-hydrostatic ocean model suited to modeling limited domains in order to capture meso- and submesoscale phenomena. Read more

Consequently I have worked on the problem of open boundary conditions for ocean models, the vertical transport of nutrients by frontal and submesoscale processes in the subtropical oceans, the large-scale transport and distribution of radiocarbon (14C), predictability of the large-scale wind-driven circulation using singular vectors, the dynamics of the shelfbreak front and coastal flows over topography, patchiness in the distributions of various biogeochemical tracers at the sea surface, and mesoscale variability of sea surface pCO2. More recently, I have been working on the interaction between hydrodynamics and vegetation in coastal areas. A broad objective of my research is to understand the feedbacks between physical processes, the autotrophic (plant) community and the carbon cycle.

A brief CV:

  • 2013-present Senior Scientist, Department of Physical Oceanography
    Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA
  • 2017-present Faculty Dean, Mather House, Harvard University
  • 2011-2012 Associate Scientist with Tenure, Department of Physical Oceanography
    Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA
  • 2011-2011 Research Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
    Boston University, Boston, MA
  • 2003-2011 Associate Research Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
    Boston University, Boston, MA
  • 2007-present Adjunct Faculty
    University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA
  • 2003-06 Visiting Associate Professor Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences
    Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
  • 2001-03 Assistant Research Professor Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space
    New Hampshire, NH
  • 2001-03 Senior Research Associate Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
    University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
  • 1999-2001 Staff Scientist, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA
  • 1997-1998 Research Associate Dept of Earth & Planetary Sciences Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
  • 1994-97 Postdoctoral Research Associate Department of Geophysical Sciences University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • 1994, Ph.D. Stanford University, Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory and program in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics
  • 1989, M.S. Stanford University
  • 1987 B.E. Civil Engineering, VJTI University of Mumbai, India

amala_cv

Kathleen Abbott

Ph.D. Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program
2020-present

Weiguang (Roger) Wu

Ph.D. Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program
2020-present

Jing He

PhD Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program
2017-present

Helena Randolph Cheslack

Ph.D. Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program

Alex Kinsella

Postdoctoral Investigator

Leo Middleton

Postdoctoral Investigator

Alumni

Ph.D. students

Mara Freilich

Ph.D. Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program
September 2015-2021

Sebastian Essink

Ph.D. Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program
September 2013 – 2019

Gualtiero Victor Spiro Jaeger

Ph.D. Student
MIT/WHOI Joint Program
September 2013 – 2019

Currently working on ASIRI, an ONR project in the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. My interests float in the upper ocean at the interface between the tropical atmosphere and the surface waters, active with currents, eddies and turbulence. Read more

The sea-to-air transfer of heat and moisture is critical in atmospheric dynamics, affecting the yearly Monsoon rains over the region. I’m looking at how rain & river freshwater in the Bay of Bengal affects ocean stratification and air-sea fluxes, from the regional distribution to sub-mesoscale dynamics. The project involves shipborne observations in the bay, analysis of cruise-data and remotely-observed data, as well as numerical modelling of processes using PSOM.

Undegraduate: B.S. in Physics, College of Creative Studies, University of California Santa Barbara

Postdocs

Yue (Cynthia) Wu

Postdoctoral Investigator
2019-2021

Mathieu Dever

Postdoctoral Investigator
2017-2019
Co-supervised with David Nicholson
Ph.D. Dalhousie University

Research Areas: Continental shelf circulation, to work on transport and export of organic matter.

Kate Lowry

Postdoctoral Scholar, WHOI
12/2016 – 2018
Ph.D. Stanford University

Research Areas: Biological oceanography, Arctic circulation and sea ice, phytoplankton blooms, physical-biological interactions

Jim Thomas, Postdoc Scholar, OFI-Dal &Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2019 - 2019

Melissa Omand, Postdoc Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2011 – 2014
currently, Assistant Prof. U. Rhode Island

Mariona Claret, Postdoc Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2013 – 2014
currently scientist at JISAO, U. Washington

Jean-Baptiste Gilet, Postdoc Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2012 – 2013

Jinbo Wang, Postdoc Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 2011 – 2012
currently scientist at JPL

Gualtiero Badin, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Boston University 2010 – 2011
currently Junior Professor, University of Hamburg

Jacqueline Tweddle, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Boston University 2009 – 2010
currently scientist at a UK lab

Bror Jonsson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Boston University 2006 – 2008
currently, Research faculty at U. New Hampshire

Graduate Student advisees

B. Cael Barry, Ph.D. student, MIT/WHOI Joint Program, co-advised 2014 – 2016

Samantha Siedlecki, PhD, University of Chicago, Co-advised 2004 – 2010
currently Scientist at JISAO, U. Washington

Summer/ Guest Students

Yoana Guzman (Summer student fellow 2020), Guilherme Salvador(Guest student, summer 2019), Margaret Conley (Guest investigator,spring 2019), Daniel Tarry (Guest student, Fall 2018), Eugenio Cutolo(Guest student, Fall 2018) Yenchia Feng (Guest student, summer 2017), Kendra Lynn (Summer student fellow 2016), Qi Li (GFD Fellow, 2016), Sarah Brody (Guest 2014), Sebastian Essink (Guest 2012-13), LaurenDana (Guest 2013, 2014 summer), Lenna Quackenbush (Guest, Fall2013), Marcel du Plessis (Guest, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017), Mara Freilich (Summer student fellow 2014)