Sean Freeman
Biosketch
I grew up in West Virginia and Kentucky and graduated with my bachelor's degree from Florida State University in meteorology and computer science. I have been in the van den Heever group since 2015, receiving my MS in Atmospheric Science in 2018. I am currently a PhD candidate using the CAMP2Ex Field Campaign dataset and the RAMS numerical model to study how tropical deep convection is modulated by environments. In addition to my current CAMP2Ex-related work, I am examining how we can best utilize drones for observations in atmospheric science and novel ways of moving numerical modeling forward. I enjoy hiking, traveling, baking, playing sports with my friends, and watching college football outside of work.
Education
Ph.D. Candidate, Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, 2018 - Present
M.S., Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, 2018
B.S., Meteorology, Florida State University, 2015
B.S., Computer Science, Florida State University, 2015
Awards
Shrake-Culler Scholarship, 2020
NASA Group Achievement Award (CAMP2Ex)
NSF Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide, 2019-2020 (declined, COVID-19)
NCAR ASP Summer Colloquium Participant, 2018
AMS Mesoscale Conference Travel Grant, 2017
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2015
American Meteorological Society Graduate Fellowship, 2015
Phi Beta Kappa, 2015
American Meteorological Society Pedro S. Grau Scholarship in Meteorology, 2014
NASA Group Achievement Award (SEAC4RS), 2013
Barry Goldwater Scholarship Honorable Mention, 2013
Chi Epsilon Pi, 2013
Publications
Edwards, E.-L., J.S. Reid, P. Xian, S.P. Burton, A.L. Cook, E.W. Crosbie, M.A. Fenn, R.A. Ferrare, S.W. Freeman, J.W. Hair, D.B. Harper, C.A. Hostetler, C.E. Robinson, A.J. Scarino, M.A. Shook, G.A. Sokolowsky, S.C. van den Heever, E.L. Winstead, S. Woods, L.D. Ziemba and A. Sorooshian, 2022: Assessment of NAAPS-RA performance in Maritime Southeast Asia during CAMP2Ex. In review at ACP. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-870.
Sokolowsky, G.A., S.W. Freeman, and S.C. van den Heever, 2022: Sensitivities of maritime tropical trimodal convection to aerosols and boundary layer static stability. Accepted pending revision at J. Atmos. Sci.
van den Heever, S.C., L.D. Grant, S.W. Freeman, P.J. Marinescu, J. Barnum, J. Bukowski, L. Casas, A.J. Drager, B. Fuchs, G.R. Herman, S.M. Hitchcock, P.C. Kennedy, E.R. Nielsen, J.M. Park, K. Rasmussen, M.N. Razin, R. Riesenberg, E.M. Riley Dellaripa, C.J. Slocum, B.A. Toms, and A. van den Heever, 2021: Diving into cold pools and flying into updrafts of deep convective storms. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0013.1
Marinescu, P.J., P.C. Kennedy, M.M. Bell, A.J. Drager, L.D. Grant, S.W. Freeman, and S.C. van den Heever, 2020: Updraft vertical velocity observations and uncertainties in High Plains supercells using radiosondes and radars. Mon. Wea. Rev., 148, 4435-4452. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-20-0071.1.
Freeman, S.W., A.L. Igel, and S.C. van den Heever, 2019: Relative sensitivities of rainfall prediction to fixed shape parameters and collection efficiences. Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc., 145, 2181-2201. DOI:10.1002/qj.3550.
Kalmus, P., Kahn, B.H., Freeman, S.W., van den Heever, S.C., 2019: Trajectory-enhanced AIRS observations of environmental factors leading to tornadogenesis. Mon. Wea. Rev., 147, 1633-1653.
Heath, N. K., H. E. Fuelberg, S. Tanelli, F. J. Turk, R. P. Lawson, S. Woods, and S. Freeman (2017), WRF nested large-eddy simulations of deep convection during SEAC4RS, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 122, 3953–3974, doi:10.1002/2016JD025465
Grant and Fellowship Funding
Colorado State University Engineering Student Technology Committee, “Drones @ CSU”, Kreidenweis, S.M. and Freeman, S.W. Competitive internal grant for a Charge for Technology Fee Special Project, $10,000. May 2018
Colorado State University Office of Vice President for Research, “Drones @ CSU”, Kreidenweis, S.M., Chandrasekar, V., Chávez, J., Freeman, S.W., and Smith, A. Competitive internal grant for an Emerging Innovations Core Facility, $180,000. February 2018
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, $138,000. August 2015 — August 2020
Teaching Experience
ATS 640 (Synoptic Meteorology), Teaching Assistant, Fall 2016
NASA Student Airborne Research Program, Coding Mentor, June - August 2015
Field Experience
Flight Scientist, Flight Planner, Instrument Scientist, NASA Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex), August–October 2019.
Technical Manager, CSU Convective Cloud Outflows and UpDrafts Experiment (C3LOUD-Ex), July 2016; May-June 2017.
Meteorology and Flight Planning Team Member, NASA Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS), August 2013.
Selected Presentations
Freeman, S.W., S.C. van den Heever, J.S. Reid, and D.J. Posselt. Tropical Deep Convective Cloud Processes and Variability in the Different Thermodynamic and Aerosol Environments of CAMP2Ex and PISTON. International Conference on Clouds and Precipitation, virtual, August 2021 (O)
Freeman, S.W., S.C. van den Heever, J.S. Reid, and D.J. Posselt. Variations in Deep Convective Storm Morphology and Organization in the Dynamic and Thermodynamic Environments of CAMP2Ex and PISTON. 101st AGU Fall Meeting, Virtual, December, 2020. (P)
Freeman, S.W., S.C. van den Heever, J.S. Reid, and D.J. Posselt. Tropical Deep Convective Morphology in the Different Thermodynamic and Aerosol Environments of CAMP2Ex and PISTON 100th AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2019 (O)
Freeman, S.W., S.C. van den Heever, and A.L. Igel, Good Nus and Bad Nus: An Investigation of the Raindrop Shape Parameter in a Deep Convective Simulation? 15th AMS Conference on Cloud Physics and Radiation, Vancouver, BC, July 2018. (P)
Freeman, S.W., S.C. van den Heever, B.H. Kahn, and P.M. Kalmus, Thermodynamic Environmental Conditions Leading to Tornadogenesis. 98th AMS Annual meeting, Austin, TX, January 2018 (O)
Freeman, S.W., J. Bukowski, S.M. Hitchcock, L.D. Grant, P.J. Marinescu, and S. C. van den Heever, A Novel Use of Multirotor sUAS to Sample Severe Convective Storms during the C3LOUD-Ex Field Campaign. 98th AMS Annual meeting, Austin, TX, January 2018 (O)
Freeman, S.W., S.C. van den Heever, and A.L. Igel, Does the shape of the assumed raindrop size distribution matter in convective storms? 17th International Conference on Clouds and Precipitation, Manchester, UK, July 2016. (O)
Freeman, S.W. and H. Fuelberg, A High Resolution Atmospheric Chemistry Simulation of Hurricane Sandy (2012). American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, Jan. 2015. (O)
Miscellaneous and Media Appearances
FAA Part 107 Licensed UAS Pilot
CAMP2Ex Media Day Presentation, discussed in the Manila Bulletin, October 2019
Interviewed on CSU SOURCE, August 2017
Interviewed on Weather Junkies Podcast, July 2017
Interviewed in CSU Magazine, Winter 2016