About Me
Erin Emme is a dedicated researcher with a passion for understanding, mitigating, and adapting to the impacts of climate change through numerical models and observations.
Below are details of her CV, highlighting her educational and research experience, publications and presentations, and other experiences that have contributed to her development.
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
April 2026 - present
University of Colorado at Boulder
The Arctic is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. My current work is focused on designing simulations of cold cloud thinning (i.e., mixed-phase and cirrus cloud thinning) in CESM2 to explore the potential for Arctic-focused climate intervention to restore sea ice.
Advised by Dr. Andrew Gettelman
Education
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC)
B.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering
2017 - 2021
Minor in Natural Resource and Environmental Science
PhD in Environmental Engineering
Advised by Dr. Hannah M. Horowitz
2021 - 2026
Thesis: "Sea Salt Aerosols: How Natural and Intentional Perturbations Impact Climate and Atmospheric Chemistry"
Committee: Drs. Nicole Reimer, Vishal Verma, and Lei Zhao
Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications
2026
2025
Research Experience
Graduate
Graduate Research Assistantship at UIUC
2021 - 2026
Graduate Visitor Program at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
2024
NCAR Visitor
2022-2023
Performed simulations with the Community Earth System Model (CESM2) to examine the role of seasonality in deploying Marine Cloud Brightening, a climate intervention strategy which uses sea salt aerosols to brighten marine clouds.
NSF NCAR Earth System Science Internship (NESSI)
2022
Continued research from NESSI, where I aided in performing simulations with a newer version of the NCAR explicit chemistry model GECKO-A and created a climate model extractor for meteorological and chemical conditions.
Conducted a research project using an explicit chemistry model and climate model output to analyze the effects of climate change on organic aerosols in the atmosphere, delivering an oral and poster presentation on the project to the NCAR community.
Dissertation research aimed at investigating sea salt aerosol sources and their impacts on chemistry and climate using a modeling approach.
Summer Pre-Doctoral Institute Fellowship at UIUC
2021
Preliminary PhD research culminating in an oral presentation and 25-page scientific research paper.
Undergraduate
Undergraduate Researcher at UIUC
2020-2021
Analyzed potential sea salt aerosol sources in the Arctic using satellite data, visualizing spatial data and performing statistical analyses.
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
2019
Designed a sampling system for agricultural air emissions of antibiotic-resistant genes through literature review and Lagrangian model simulations.
Scientific Presentations
2026
Poster presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting
New Orleans, LA
E. Emme, C.-C. Chen, and H. M. Horowitz, "Deployment Strategy Shapes the Polar Climate Response to Marine Cloud Brightening"
Invited presentation at the U. Chicago Climate Systems Engineering Initiative Seminar Series
Chicago, IL
E. Emme, C.-C. Chen, and H. M. Horowitz, "Deployment Strategy Shapes the Polar Climate Response to Marine Cloud Brightening"
2025
Oral presentation at the 30th Annual CESM Workshop
Boulder, CO
Oral presentation at the Degrees Global Forum Conference
Cape Town, South Africa
2024
E. Emme, C.-C. Chen, and H. M. Horowitz, "Impact of Seasonality on Climate Outcomes for Mid Latitude Marine Cloud Brightening"
Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting
Washington D.C.
E. Emme, C.-C. Chen, and H. M. Horowitz, "Efficacy of Mid-Latitude Marine Cloud Brightening Strategies in Combating Global Warming and Their Impact on Precipitation"
Oral presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting
Chicago, IL
E. Emme and H. M. Horowitz, "Impacts of Sea Ice Leads on Sea Salt Aerosols in the Arctic: Results from Chemical Transport Modeling"
Poster presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting
New Orleans, LA
E. Emme and H. M. Horowitz, "Understanding Sea Salt Aerosols in the Arctic: Estimating Emissions from Open Leads in Sea Ice"
E. Emme, C.-C. Chen, and H. M. Horowitz, "Efficacy of Mid-Latitude Marine Cloud Brightening Strategies in Combating Global Warming and Their Impact on Precipitation"
E. Emme and H. M. Horowitz, "Impacts of Sea Ice Leads on Sea Salt Aerosols and Atmospheric Chemistry in the Arctic"
Poster presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting
Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) Winner
Washington D.C.
Poster presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting
Chicago, IL
E. Emme and A. Hodzic, "Effects of a Changing Climate on Primary and Secondary Organic Aerosols in the Arctic"
Oral presentation at the Illinois Summer Research Symposium (ISSR)
Best Presentation Award Winner
Champaign, IL
E. Emme, "Understanding Sea Salt Aerosols in the Arctic: Estimating Emissions from Open Leads in Sea Ice"
2023
2022
Oral presentation at the American Association for Aerosol Research Annual Meeting
Student Presentation Award Winner
Portland, OR
E. Emme and H.M. Horowitz, "Impacts of Sea Ice Leads on Sea Salt Aerosols in the Arctic: Results from Chemical Transport Modeling"
Poster presentation at 2022 NCAR|UCAR|UCP Summer Student Research Poster Symposium
Boulder, CO
E. Emme and A. Hodzic, "Effects of a Changing Climate on Primary and Secondary Organic Aerosols in the Arctic"
2021
2020
Oral presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting
Virtual
E. Emme and H. M. Horowitz, "Estimating Contributions of Potential Sea Salt Aerosol Sources to the Arctic Using Satellite Data"
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant at UIUC
Introduction to Environmental Engineering
2023
5 hrs/week
Assisted the professor in grading and creating assignments, hosting exam reviews, and helping students with their assignments and course material.
2022
20 hrs/week
Graded weekly assignments, created grading materials for future assignments, and aided in students with office hours or communication via email.
Teamwork and Outreach
University of Illinois American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Student Chapter
2021 - 2026
Engineering Open House
Three Time Award Winning Display
2023-2025
Skype a Scientist
2023
Designed, organized, and presented a K-12 friendly display to teach visitors air quality concepts such as air pollution sources, monitoring, and mitigation with simple but informative interactive elements.
IWEA 2022 Intelligent Water Systems (IWS) Challenge
First Place Winners
2022
Connect with other students and universities to promote a platform for helping members and other students in the field develop professionalism and leadership; foster communication and share ideas with colleagues in the aerosol research field.
Virtually connected with K-12 classrooms with the goal of inspiring students to pursue science and teaching important concepts such as climate change.
Collaborated with a group of two other students to design a real-time anomaly detection tool for wastewater treatment plans using artificial intelligence and machine learning, which we presented at the 2022 IWPC Conference.
Collegiate Varsity Division 1 Women’s Swimming and Diving Team
2017-2021
Developed a sense of teamwork by pushing teammates to their maximum training potential and helped create a positive environment to cultivate success
Leadership Experience
University of Illinois AAAR Student Chapter Acting Executive Board Member
2021 - present
Social Media Coordinator/ Head of Publicity Division (2021-2023, 2026)
Build and manage publicity websites to broadcast activities and events for the Student Chapter and encourage students to join.
President (2024 – 2025)
Organize membership meetings, coordinate with board members about chapter events, and communicate with administration.
Vice President (2023-2024)
Responsible for communication with national AAAR and other chapter for event organization, overseeing activities and performance of committees, and sharing workload of chapter president.
Team Captain of University of Illinois Diving Team
2021
Responsible for upholding coach and team standards, coordinating activities and mediating teammate relationships to strengthen team atmosphere and build a positive team culture.
Fighting Illini Leadership Institute
2019
Met with a select group of athletes to participate in discussions with former Olympic athletes and coaches to improve leadership styles and learn new leadership skills.
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA), AGU Annual Fall Meeting 2025
NSF NCAR Advanced Study Program Graduate Student (GVP) Fellowship 2024
AAAR Student Presentation Award, Annual Meeting 2023
First Place Winner, IWEA Intelligent Water Systems (IWS) Challenge 2022
Walter E. Deuchler Environmental Engineering Fellowship 2021-2022
Best Presentation, Illinois Summer Research Symposium 2021
Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) Scholar 2021-2022
Summer Pre-Doctoral Institute Fellowship, University of Illinois 2021
Big Ten Scholar 2018-2021
William T. Pascoe III Memorial Engineering Scholarship 2017-2021
Technical Skills
GEOS-Chem, a chemical transport model
HYSPLIT, a dispersion and trajectory model
GECKO-A explicit chemistry model
Community Earth System Model (CESM2), a global climate model
ENVI-Met, an urban microclimate model
Linux/Unix
High Performance Computing
Python
Jupyter Notebooks
Git/GitHub
Fortran
Microsoft Office
Reviewer: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Erin Emme
University of Colorado at Boulder
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
4001 Discovery Dr, Boulder, CO 80309
