Teaching and Mentoring

Mentoring

Ornella Bley, Commack High School Science Research Program.

“Over the summer of 2025, I completed a research project with the help of my mentor, Ishrat Jahan Dollan, where I analyzed Hurricane Laura’s precipitation in an area using satellite data estimates. I analyzed Hurricane Laura’s data using Giovanni by NASA. I specifically used IMERG V07. From analyzing Hurricane Laura, I learned that its precipitation increased significantly over time, then dropped as the storm weakened after it made landfall. This indicated that the highest storm surge occurred near landfall. As the storm moved further inland, the flood risk decreased as precipitation maximums on the plots also decreased. IMERG tracked when and where rainfall was going to hit Louisiana. Precipitation maximums changed over time, helping show when flood risk increased, which can cause property damage and loss of life. I also learned that this study had limitations, as the IMERG time-averaged map provides average precipitation and can miss local maxima. This means that to clarify and strengthen the information gathered, we need other metrics such as accumulated rainfall and maximum accumulated rainfall for the storm duration. Ground measurements could be used to compare these results and define the reliability of the rainfall estimates.”

Pedagogical Training

Communication training and presentation of a research talk at Stony Brook University’s Postdoc Spotlight, 2025

Neuroinclusive teaching, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Stony Brook University, 2025

Research Survival Skills for Postdocs, Stony Brook University, 2024