Cory is studying Geography and Atmospheric Science at the University of Kansas in pursuit of his doctorate. He obtained his Master's degree in Climate and Society in the Earth Institute's Master of Arts program at Columbia University in New York City. He graduated in Spring 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in Geography and Environmental Studies and minoring in Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies (GIS/T). Areas of interest and special study are hydroclimatology, drivers of global and regional natural climate variability, ecology and conservation, hydrology, biogeography, fluvial and coastal geomorphology, water resources and rights, remote sensing for the environment, and GIS. His travels take him frequently throughout the United States and its national parks, and to Europe and Costa Rica. Cory's PhD. classes and research will continue at KU into 2020.
Cory has been a touring singer/musician and songwriter for many years. Still, a passion for science led him to return to college in 2012 after 17 years away from academia. He enrolled at Santa Monica College pursuant to degrees in Environmental Studies and Geography. An interest in renewable energy led him to study Solar Photovoltaics concurrently. Cory was the recipient of the Bruce Hass Memorial Scholarship in 2013 for excellence in Geology and Chemistry. In 2013, Cory began independent research using satellite remote sensing and GIS to map wildfires, vegetation, and propensity for mass-wasting events in Southern California. He excelled at this work, and contributed to SMC Earth Science department chair Dr. Vicki Drake's research for JPL. His leadership roles have included vice-president of SMC's EcoAction Club and president/founder of the SMC Geography Club. He graduated from SMC in 2014, and transferred to UCLA in Summer of 2014.
Cory excelled at UCLA as he did at SMC, studying a holistic range of physical geography- and natural environment-related subjects, from botany to geology, atmosphere to hydrology, grinding his way to the Dean's Honors List, and earning the Scholarship Recognition Award from 2014 to 2016. He is a member of the UCLA Geography Association and UCLA's chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, the geography honors society. During this time his community service involved collecting coastal data for the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Watch through Heal the Bay and L.A. Waterkeeper, and organizing beach clean-ups in Los Angeles. Cory graduated in June 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies, minoring in Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies (GIS/Remote Sensing).
In 2016, Cory was accepted into Columbia University's esteemed Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for his Master's degree, an intensive program in Climate & Society offered by the Earth Institute and the International Research Institute (IRI) at Columbia. He was the recipient of a 2016-2017 Climate and Society Academic Scholarship. At Columbia, he undertook research for the Columbia Water Center on the implications of dams on water resources and impacts of climate change on dams in the Western United States (Upmanu Lall; Indrani Pal, PI). Cory began his own master's research on ENSO teleconnections and CMIP5 modeling.
At KU, Cory is doing research on woody encroachment into grasslands with changing wildfire and precipitation, and is evaluating the signal of ENSO on local and regional climates. He is teaching classes on climate and climate change, as well as labs in statistics with R and cartography. His course study includes stochastic hydrology, soil physics, microclimatology, ecohydrology, and precipitation variability.
He is interested in natural climate variability and its combined impact with anthropogenic climate change on water resources in the US. Cory aims to study teleconnections and their potential effect on annual regional climatology and extreme events. He utilizes a suite of methods to address water and climate issues in regions where those impacts are most visceral and response and management are most dire. His modeling experience helps to decipher puzzles in ecological and climatological change in a warming world and strengthen the nexus between science and policy/implementation/management by validating the usefulness and application of forecasts to highly vulnerable regions of the globe. Other projects of interest are investigating shoreline and river changes over time with satellite imagery, and evaluating the impact of wildfire and changing precipitation regimes on the phenological dynamics of woodlands, grasslands, and other vegetation types. Cory loves water and its dynamics and importance. Water is the single most prominent factor sculpting the geography of Earth's natural and human landscapes, and certainly climate change's implications for water resource management and policy are as relevant as ever.
Cory has been a touring singer/musician and songwriter for many years. Still, a passion for science led him to return to college in 2012 after 17 years away from academia. He enrolled at Santa Monica College pursuant to degrees in Environmental Studies and Geography. An interest in renewable energy led him to study Solar Photovoltaics concurrently. Cory was the recipient of the Bruce Hass Memorial Scholarship in 2013 for excellence in Geology and Chemistry. In 2013, Cory began independent research using satellite remote sensing and GIS to map wildfires, vegetation, and propensity for mass-wasting events in Southern California. He excelled at this work, and contributed to SMC Earth Science department chair Dr. Vicki Drake's research for JPL. His leadership roles have included vice-president of SMC's EcoAction Club and president/founder of the SMC Geography Club. He graduated from SMC in 2014, and transferred to UCLA in Summer of 2014.
Cory excelled at UCLA as he did at SMC, studying a holistic range of physical geography- and natural environment-related subjects, from botany to geology, atmosphere to hydrology, grinding his way to the Dean's Honors List, and earning the Scholarship Recognition Award from 2014 to 2016. He is a member of the UCLA Geography Association and UCLA's chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, the geography honors society. During this time his community service involved collecting coastal data for the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Watch through Heal the Bay and L.A. Waterkeeper, and organizing beach clean-ups in Los Angeles. Cory graduated in June 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies, minoring in Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies (GIS/Remote Sensing).
In 2016, Cory was accepted into Columbia University's esteemed Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for his Master's degree, an intensive program in Climate & Society offered by the Earth Institute and the International Research Institute (IRI) at Columbia. He was the recipient of a 2016-2017 Climate and Society Academic Scholarship. At Columbia, he undertook research for the Columbia Water Center on the implications of dams on water resources and impacts of climate change on dams in the Western United States (Upmanu Lall; Indrani Pal, PI). Cory began his own master's research on ENSO teleconnections and CMIP5 modeling.
At KU, Cory is doing research on woody encroachment into grasslands with changing wildfire and precipitation, and is evaluating the signal of ENSO on local and regional climates. He is teaching classes on climate and climate change, as well as labs in statistics with R and cartography. His course study includes stochastic hydrology, soil physics, microclimatology, ecohydrology, and precipitation variability.
He is interested in natural climate variability and its combined impact with anthropogenic climate change on water resources in the US. Cory aims to study teleconnections and their potential effect on annual regional climatology and extreme events. He utilizes a suite of methods to address water and climate issues in regions where those impacts are most visceral and response and management are most dire. His modeling experience helps to decipher puzzles in ecological and climatological change in a warming world and strengthen the nexus between science and policy/implementation/management by validating the usefulness and application of forecasts to highly vulnerable regions of the globe. Other projects of interest are investigating shoreline and river changes over time with satellite imagery, and evaluating the impact of wildfire and changing precipitation regimes on the phenological dynamics of woodlands, grasslands, and other vegetation types. Cory loves water and its dynamics and importance. Water is the single most prominent factor sculpting the geography of Earth's natural and human landscapes, and certainly climate change's implications for water resource management and policy are as relevant as ever.