Nicole Ngo

Sustainable Development Ph.D. student
International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY, 10027

C.V.
email: nsn2106@columbia.edu

I'm interested in urban air pollution in developing countries.  Research I'm currently involved in includes the following:

• Observing concentrations of PM 2.5 and black carbon from automobile emissions in Nairobi
• Using remote sensing to observe urban air pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Using a velocity flow field from a large eddy simulation to observe how convective clouds influence vertical transport of pollutants
• Understanding impacts of emissions from coal-powered plants and the potential for alternative energy

If interested in more information, please refer to my C.V. or email me. I classify these projects as "works in progress," and I hope to expand upon some of them, but have been unable to plan out how or just plain start (e.g., examining the cost of possible strategies to mitigate urban air pollution in Nairobi).  Questions or ideas about these projects are encouraged!

This will be a reference section for classes for which I am a TA.

Fall Semester 2009: Intro to Development (taught by Jackie Klopp)

• Look for recitation notes, study questions, power points here: http://epd.wikispaces.columbia.edu/IDEV (let me know if you have trouble accessing it-- you will need your uni and password)

Fall and Spring Semester 2009: Seminar for Sustainable Development (for the Sustainable Development Ph.D. Program)

Ngo, N.S., Moeng, C.-H., and J. Weil, 2009: "The effects of convective clouds on vertical scalar transport using a numerically simulated flow field."

Flores, N. and Ngo, N.S., 2007: "The Economics of Offsets in Household Voluntary Carbon Reductions."

Ngo N.S. and Pataki D.E. 2008: "The energy and mass balance of Los Angeles County."Urban Ecosystems, 11, 2, 121-139.

I was born and raised in Southern California, but my family originally hails from Singapore.  My interest in "sustainable development" (however you choose to define it) started after taking a required course on atmospheric science for my college.  Initially, I was an economics major but found myself drawn to environmental science; it satisfied a curiousity about how earth and life on it functioned together.  After dabbling in marine policy and ecology (including what I consider the major accomplishment of building a ragged meteorological station) I always felt a pull toward atmospheric science, particularly air pollution.  Perhaps it's because urban air pollution, in my opinion, is one example of the difficulties in reconciling the wants of human beings against the necessities for development against the health of the physical environment.  I hope that in the pursuit of my Ph.D. to contribute a tiny part toward achieving "sustainable development" (however you may choose to define it).

On a more personal note, I was also a competitve tennis player in my youth.  After tearing my ACL in high school, I shifted into teaching tennis and focused more on my studies.  In such unexpected turns of luck, I refer to a quote I once saw on a sign in Charleston, South Carolina:   "If at first you don't succeed, redefine success."  I am admittedly fateful to this quote and though it seems like an easy out, I find it useful after one of the many big failures in life likely to occur.  I feel lucky in the sense, I've rarely had to appeal to this quote.

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• 
  Looking at the University of Nairobi's met station
• 
  Winning a autographed glass puck signed by Luc Robataille at an L.A.Kings gamewith my brother and sister

Official Sustainable Development Ph.D. website (by Columbia University)
Unofficial Sustainable Development Ph.D. webiste (by the Sustainable Development Ph.D. students)

NASA- Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP)
Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research (SOARS) (one of the best internships for undergraduates pursuing a degree in atmospheric science or related fields to conduct research at NCAR)
University of California, Irvine- Dept. of Earth System Science
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution- Marine Policy Center
NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiatve (NOAA OHHI)
Columbia University