Nick Falk

nick.falk@colostate.edu

orcid.org/0000-0001-5630-6728

Biosketch

I grew up in Chatsworth, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. I attended UC Davis for my undergraduate where I graduated with degrees in Atmospheric Science and Mathematics. While at Davis, I was involved in research with Ian Faloona, Matthew Igel, and Adele Igel. I obtained my MS and PhD as a member of the van den Heever group, and I am now a postdoc. My past research has focused on many aspects of convective cold pools, including their collisions, propagation, interaction with topography, and interaction with vegetation. I have participated in the BACS, TIME-SLICE, and RAM-CINC field campaigns. My current research projects involve analysis of convective aggregation in INCUS simulations and analysis of RAM-CINC data. Outside of work, I like to run, hike, practice piano, read about history, and play strategy games.

Education

PhD, Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, 2025
MS, Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, 2022
BS, Atmospheric Science, University of California, Davis, 2019
BS, Mathematics, University of California, Davis, 2019

Awards

Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award at the AMS 20th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 2023
NASA Group Achievement Award for CAMP2Ex Team, 2020
Walter Scott Jr. Graduate Fellowship, 2019
UC Davis Outstanding Senior Award, 2019
UC Davis Jastro Scholarship, 2015-2019

Publications

  1. Falk, N. M., Leung, G. R., Grant, L. D., and van den Heever, S. C. Cold Pools Reduce the Impacts of Deforestation on Convection Initiation. In review at Atmospheric Science Letters

  2. Falk, N. M., Grant, L. D., and van den Heever, S. C. Haboobs on Slopes. Accepted pending revisions at Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

  3. Falk, N. M. and Coauthors. (2025). Do Cold Pools Propagate According to Theory? Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 82(8), 1481-1497. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-24-0136.1

  4. Grant, L. D., Kirsch, B., Bukowski, J., Falk, N. M., Neumaier, C. A., Sakradzija, M., van den Heever S. C., and Ament, F. (2024). How Variable Are Cold Pools? Geophysical Research Letters, 51(6), e2023GL106784. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL106784

  5. Falk, N.M. and S.C. van den Heever, 2023: Environmental Modulation of Mechanical and Thermodynamic Forcing from Cold Pool Collisions. J. Atmos. Sci., 80, 375-395. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-22-0020.1

  6. Falk, N.M., A.L. Igel, and M.R. Igel, 2019: The Relative Impact of Ice Fall Speeds and Microphysics Parameterization Complexity on Supercell Evolution. Mon. Wea. Rev., 147, 2403–2415, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-18-0417.1

  7. Caputi, D. J., Faloona, I., Trousdell, J., Smoot, J., Falk, N., & Conley, S. (2019). Residual layer ozone, mixing, and the nocturnal jet in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics, 19(7), 4721–4740. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4721-2019

Field Experience

Relating Atlantic Marine Convection, Ice Nuclei, and Cold pools (RAM-CINC) (2025)
Leader of the drone team onboard the RV Meteor
Testing INCUS Methods Experiment - Small preLaunch Investigations of Convective Evolution (TIME-SLICE) (2024)
Radisonde Operator
BioAerosols and Convective Storms (BACS) - Phase I & Phase II (2022 & 2023)
Drone pilot, radiosonde operator, forecaster, nowcaster, manager of surface weather station

Teaching and Mentoring Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant: ATS 730 Mesoscale Modeling (Spring 2024)
Mentor for CIRA/ATS Mentoring Program (2023-Present)
Co-mentored Brittney Smith during Summer 2021 CSU Atmospheric Science REU program
Calculus tutor for UC Davis Academic Assistance and Tutoring Centers (2016-2019)

Misc.

FAA Part 107 Licensed UAS Pilot
van den Heever Group Webmaster
Check out our group presentations page to see presentations from everyone in the group (including my own!)


Last Updated: 9/25