CW3E Welcomes Dr. Vesta Afzali Gorooh

January 10, 2023

Vesta is a Postdoctoral Scholar-Employee at the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of California San Diego, where she joined in January 2023. Her research interest lies at the intersection of hydrometeorology and remote sensing disciplines with an emphasis on the application of machine learning methods in satellite retrieval systems.

At CW3E, Vesta’s research activities will involve developing quantitative precipitation estimation algorithms and short-term precipitation forecasts at high spatiotemporal resolution using machine learning techniques. This research aligns with her Ph.D. work, which she completed in Civil and Environmental Engineering in December 2022 at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. program at UC Irvine, under the supervision of Prof. Soroosh Sorooshian in the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing. Since her Ph.D. time, she has been working on fusing multispectral images derived from geostationary satellites with Low-Earth-Orbit active and passive microwave measurements to retrieve surface precipitation rates at high spatiotemporal resolution.

During her Ph.D., Vesta was named Future Investigator by NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology to implement deep learning architectures for cloud type classification and precipitation estimation using CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar and the new generation of NOAA and NASA’s geostationary platforms. She interned at NASA Ames Research Center in 2018 and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) in 2022 while completing her graduate degree. To date, she has produced over a dozen scientific articles, which have been disseminated in peer-reviewed scientific and technical journals. She will continue her work through widespread collaboration, peer-reviewed journal publications, and conference presentations.