Who Am I?

I'm a Ph.D. student in the Barnes Group at Boston University's Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences. I'm passionate about building trustworthy weather and climate prediction systems using deep learning. 

I received my B.S. in meteorology, with minors in computer science and mathematics, from The University of Oklahoma, where I worked with Dr. Elinor Martin and Dr. Jason Furtado on evaluating the skill of dynamical models for forecasting S2S extreme precipitation events. I obtained my M.S. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University for "Am I Confused or Is This Confusing: Deep Ensembles for ENSO Uncertainty Quantification."

Outside of work, I cherish time with my family and friends. I'm a competitive powerlifter in the 93 kg weight class. I love cooking, playing racket sports (tennis/pickleball/table tennis), hiking, fishing (open water/ice), chess, and speedcubing (big Tymon Kolasiński fan). My favorite song is "For You" by Laura Marling. 

I'm forever inspired by my mother, Prof. Irene Zegar, who overcame genocide, immigrating to the United States from Palestine at 17 years old, enduring virulent xenophobia and sexism to pursue her dream of advancing drug discovery for cancer treatment; and my father, Prof. James McAfee, who battled violent systemic racism in the Jim Crow South, never losing sight of his passion for unraveling the infinite complexities of the human cell, despite neverending efforts by those in power to hold him and his community down.