Research Scientist III
I grew up in central Wisconsin, obtained my Bachelor's degree from UW-Milwaukee, and moved to Fort Collins to complete my Masters and PhD degrees on convective and cold pool processes at CSU. My general research interests involve cloud and convective processes, which I study using a combination of numerical models and field observations. Outside of work, I enjoy biking and hiking in the beautiful Colorado weather. I also love to bake, cook, and spend time with my family.
Doctor of Philosophy, Atmospheric Science, 2018, Colorado State University
Master of Science, Atmospheric Science, 2014, Colorado State University
Bachelor of Science, Atmospheric Sciences (minor - Mathematics), 2011, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Perkins, R. J., B. Ascher, T. W. Barbero, N. Bryan, C. Davis, P. J. DeMott, J. Escobedo, N. M. Falk, J. C. Fernando, T. Feldman, S. W. Freeman, L. Garofalo, B. Heffernan, T. Hill, D. Juergensen, S. Kreidenweis, G. Leung, C. Mampage, A. Mazurek, C. Mignani, C. A. Neumaier, M. Nieto-Caballero, E. A. Sherman, S. C. van den Heever, D. Veloso-Aguila, L. D. Grant, and E. A. Stone, 2026: The BioAerosols and Convective Storms (BACS) Field Campaigns: Variability in Cold Pool Characteristics and Aerosol Responses. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., submitted.
Freeman, S. W., J. Bukowski, L. D. Grant, P. J. Marinescu, J. M. Park, S. M. Hitchcock, C. A. Neumaier, and S. C. van den Heever, 2026: Characterizing Thermodynamic Observations from Unshielded Multirotor Drone Sensors. J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., EGUsphere [preprint], accepted pending revision, doi:10.5194/egusphere-2024-2425 (link)
Davis, C. M., L. D. Grant, S. M. Kreidenweis, C. Mignani, R. J. Perkins, E. A. Stone, and S. C. van den Heever, 2026: The Entrainment of Air from Rainy Surface Regions and its Implications for Bioaerosol Transport in Three Deep Convective Storm Morphologies. Atm. Chem. Phys., EGUsphere [preprint], accepted pending revision, doi:10.5194/egusphere-2025-2968. (link)
Neumaier, C. A., N. M. Falk, L. D. Grant, R. J. Perkins, S. M. Kreidenweis, E. A. Stone, and S. C. van den Heever, 2026: Cold pool trains. Geophys. Res. Lett., accepted pending revision.
Falk, N. M., G. R. Leung, L. D. Grant, and S. C. van den Heever, 2026: Cold Pools Reduce the Impacts of Deforestation on Convective Initiation. Atm. Sci. Lett., in press.
Feldman, T., C. B. A. Mampage, N. M. Falk, J. Fernando, B. Heffernan, T. C. J. Hill, D. Juergensen, C. Mignani, M. Nieto-Caballero, L. D. Grant, S. C. van den Heever, P. DeMott, S. M. Kreidenweis, R. J. Perkins, and E. Stone, 2026: Convective Storms Alter Bioaerosol Populations through Cold Pools and Precipitation. Environ. Sci.: Atmos., in press, doi:10.1039/D5EA00129C.
Falk, N. M., L. D. Grant, and S. C. van den Heever, 2025: Haboobs on Slopes. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 130, e2025JD044043, doi:10.1029/2025JD044043. (link)
Singh, I., J. Bukowski, P. J. Marinescu, L. D. Grant, and S. C. van den Heever, 2025: How Spatially Variable are Tropical and Subtropical Convective Environments? Geophys. Res. Lett., 52, e2025GL116613, doi:10.1029/2025GL116613. (link)
Mignani, C., T. C. J. Hill, M. Nieto-Caballero, K. R. Barry, N. C. Bryan, P. J. Marinescu, B. Dolan, A. Sullivan, M. Hernandez, A. Bosco-Lauth, S. C. van den Heever, E. A. Stone, L. D. Grant, R. J. Perkins, P. J. DeMott, and S. M. Kreidenweis, 2025: Ice-nucleating particles are emitted by raindrop impact. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 130, e2024JD042584. (link)
Falk, N. M., L. D. Grant, S. C. van den Heever, B. D. Ascher, T. W. Barbero, C. M. Davis, J. A. Escobedo, S. W. Freeman, B. Heffernan, G. R. Leung, A. C. Mazurek, C. A. Neumaier, E. A. Sherman, G. A. Sokolowsky, D. S. Veloso-Aguila, P. J. DeMott, S. M. Kreidenweis, R. J. Perkins, and E. A. Stone, 2025: Do cold pools propagate according to theory? J. Atmos. Sci., 82, 1481–1497, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-24-0136.1. (link)
Marinescu, P. J., S. C. van den Heever, L. D. Grant, J. Bukowski, and I. Singh, 2024: How Much Convective Environment Subgrid Spatial Variability is Missing within Atmospheric Reanalysis Data Sets? Geophys. Res. Lett., 51, e2024GL111856, doi:10.1029/2024GL111856. (link)
Leung, G. R., L. D. Grant, and S. C. van den Heever, 2024: Deforestation-Driven Increases in Shallow Clouds Are Greatest in Drier, Low-Aerosol Regions of Southeast Asia. Geophys. Res. Lett., 51, e2023GL107678, doi:10.1029/2023GL107678. (link)
Grant, L. D. & Kirsch, B., J. Bukowski, N. M. Falk, C. A. Neumaier, M. Sakradzija, S. C. van den Heever, and F. Ament, 2024: How variable are cold pools? Geophys. Res. Lett., 51, e2023GL106784, doi:10.1029/2023GL106784. (link)
Drager, A. J., L. D. Grant, and S. C. van den Heever, 2022: A non-monotonic precipitation response to changes in soil moisture in the presence of vegetation. J. Hydromet., 23, 1095-1111, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-21-0109.1. (link)
Grant, L. D., S. C. van den Heever, Z. S. Haddad, J. Bukowski, P. J. Marinescu, R. L. Storer, D. J. Posselt, and G. L. Stephens, 2022: A linear relationship between vertical velocity and condensation processes in deep convection. J. Atmos. Sci., 79, 449-466, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-21-0035.1. (link)
van den Heever, S. C., L. D. Grant, S. W. Freeman, P. J. Marinescu, J. Barnum, J. Bukowski, E. 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. Riley Delaripa, C. J. Slocum, B. A. Toms, and A. van den Heever, 2021: The Colorado State University Convective CLoud Outflows and UpDrafts Experiment (C3LOUD-Ex). Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 102, E1283-E1305, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0013.1. (link)
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, 4435-4462, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-20-0071.1. (link)
Drager, A. J., L. D. Grant, and S. C. van den Heever, 2020: Cold pool responses to changes in soil moisture. J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 12, e2019MS001922, doi:10.1029/2019MS001922. (link)
Grant, L. D., M. W. Moncrieff, T. P. Lane, and S. C. van den Heever, 2020: Shear parallel tropical convective systems: Importance of cold pools and wind shear. Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL087720, doi:10.1029/2020GL087720. (link)
Park, J. M., S. C. van den Heever, A. L. Igel, L. D. Grant, J. S. Johnson, S. M. Saleeby, S. D. Miller, and J. S. Reid, 2020: Environmental controls on tropical sea breeze convection and resulting aerosol redistribution. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 125, e2019JD031699, doi:10.1029/2019JD031699. (link)
Stephens, G. L., S. C. van den Heever, Z. S. Haddad, D. J. Posselt, R. L. Storer, L. D. Grant, O. O. Sy, T. N. Rao, S. Kumar, S. Tanelli, and E. Peral, 2020: A distributed small satellite approach for measuring convective transport in the Earth's atmosphere. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 58, 4-13, doi:10.1109/TGRS.2019.2918090. (link)
Jensen, E. J., S. C. van den Heever, and L. D. Grant, 2018: The lifecycles of ice crystals detrained from the tops of deep convection. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 123, 9624-9634, doi:10.1029/2018JD028832. (link)
Grant, L. D., and S. C. van den Heever, 2018: Cold pool - land surface interactions in a dry continental environment. J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 10, 1513-1526, doi:10.1029/2018MS001323. (link)
Grant, L. D., T. P. Lane, and S. C. van den Heever, 2018: The role of cold pools in tropical oceanic convective systems. J. Atmos Sci., 75, 2615-2634, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-17-0352.1. (link)
Grant, L. D., and S. C. van den Heever, 2016: Cold pool dissipation. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 121, 1138-1155, doi:10.1002/2015JD023813. (link)
Grant, L. D., and S. C. van den Heever, 2015: Cold pool and precipitation responses to aerosol loading: Modulation by dry layers. J. Atmos. Sci., 72, 1398-1408, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-14-0260.1. (link)
Grant, L. D., and S. C. van den Heever, 2014: Aerosol-cloud-land surface interactions within tropical sea breeze convection. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 119, 8340-8361, doi:10.1002/2014JD021912. (link)
Grant, L. D., and S. C. van den Heever, 2014: Microphysical and dynamical characteristics of low-precipitation and classic supercells. J. Atmos. Sci., 71, 2604-2624, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-13-0261.1. (link)
Outstanding Very Early Career Presentation Award, 20th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 2023
CSU Graduate Student Council Travel Award for travel to the EGU General Assembly, 2017
NSF Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) Award, 2016:
Travel and research support to conduct a 3-month research project with
Prof. Todd Lane at the University of Melbourne
Alumni Award for an outstanding paper based on Ph.D. research, 2016
Early Career Travel Grant, HD(CP)2 Understanding Clouds and Precipitation conference, Berlin, Germany, 2016
Outstanding Student Paper Award, AGU Fall Meeting, 2015
CSU University Distinguished Professors Scholarship, 2015
Student Travel Award, 16th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 2015
Outstanding Student Presentation Award, Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions Symposium, AMS 95th Annual Meeting, 2015
Herbert Riehl Memorial Award for an outstanding paper based on M.S. research, 2014
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2012
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) Graduate Fellowship, 2011
AMS Graduate Fellowship, 2011
Co-adviser: Christine Neumaier (MS, PhD), Nick Falk (PhD)
CIRA/ATS Mentoring Program (CAMP) mentor, 2021-present
Teaching Assistant, ATS 730: Mesoscale Modeling, Spring 2020
CMMAP Summer Internship Program mentor (Renee Duff), 2014
CMMAP Weather and Climate for Educators Professional Development Series for Teachers: "Weather and Climate Across the Globe", July 2013 and July 2014
PI, Relating Atlantic Marine Convection, Ice Nuclei and Cold pools (RAM-CINC), June-July 2025
Co-PI and Manager of drones and radiosondes team, BioAerosols and Convective Storms (BACS) field campaigns, May-June 2022 and May-June 2023
Project Manager and field participant, CSU Convective Cloud Outflows and UpDrafts Experiment (C3LOUD-Ex), July 2016 - July 2017.
Grant, L. D., 2026: How Similar are Cold Pools in the Tropics and Midlatitudes? 5th Workshop on Convective Organization, 9-12 Mar 2026, São José dos Campos, Brazil (O, Invited).
Grant, L. D., N. M. Falk, C. A. Neumaier, S. C. van den Heever, and coauthors, 2025: Cold Pool Vertical Structure and Variability as Observed in Recent Field Campaigns. 21st Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 23-26 Jun 2025, Boise, ID (O).
Grant, L. D., N. M. Falk, G. R. Leung, and S. C. van den Heever, 2025: Synergistic Impacts of Surface Heterogeneity and Cold Pools on Tropical Convection. 105th AMS Annual Meeting, 12-16 Jan 2025, New Orleans, LA (O).
Grant, L. D., and coauthors, 2023: Variability Within and Among Midlatitude Cold Pools. 20th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 17-21 July 2023, Madison, WI (O).
Grant, L.D., and coauthors, 2023: Observed Characteristics and Variability in High Plains Cold Pools. 103rd AMS Annual Meeting, 8-12 January 2023, Denver, CO (O).
Grant, L. D., 2022: Variability in Observed Cold Pool Properties. Cold Pool Workshop, 7-10 December 2022, Kreuth, Germany (O; Invited).
Grant, L. D., S. C. van den Heever, and J. M. Park, 2021: Land surface and cold pools impacts on tropical sea breeze variability. AGU Fall Meeting, 13-17 December 2021, New Orleans, LA & online (O; virtual).
Grant, L. D., S. C. van den Heever, and J. M. Park, 2021: Variability in cold pool interactions with tropical sea breeze convection. 101st AMS Annual Meeting, 10-14 January 2021, New Orleans, LA (O; virtual).
