Curriculum Vitae
Education
2020 - ongoing | Graduate Student at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, in Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE). Advised by Andrew Thompson.
2015 - 2019 | Bachelor of Philosophy in Science (Honours) at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, majoring in Marine Science and minoring in Applied Math. Honours research advised by Adele Morrison and Andrew Hogg.
Research Placements
2022 | Summer Research Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program (WHOI - GFD). Advised by Renske Gelderloos, Ted Johnson, and Keaton Burns.
2020 | Research Specialist at Princeton University's Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Program, working under the SOCCOM Project. Advised by Stephen Griffies, Michael Winton and Jorge Sarmiento.
2019 | Research Assistant at the Australian National University Climate & Fluid Physics Group. Advised by Adele Morrison and Andrew Hogg.
2018 | Summer Research Assistant at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Aerosol and Chemistry Modeling Team, Aspendale. Advised by Matthew Woodhouse.
2018 | Undergraduate Researcher at the Australian National University, Environmental Geodesy Group. Advised by Paul Tregoning.
2016 - 2017| Undergraduate Researcher at the Australian National University, Climate & Fluid Physics Group. Advised by Callum Shakespeare, Ross Kerr, and Michael Roderick.
2015 | Undergraduate Researcher at the Australian National University, Jackson Group (Biological Chemistry). Advised by Colin Jackson.
2014 | Intern at the University of Queensland, Center for Integrative Legumes Research. Advised by Peter Gresshoff.
Publications
Journal Articles
[5] Prend, C. J., MacGilchrist, G. A., Manucharayan, G. E., Pang, R. Q., Moorman, R., Thompson, A. F., Griffies, S. M., Mazloff, M. R., Talley, Gille, S. T.: Ross Gyre variability modulates oceanic heat supply toward the West Antarctic continental shelf. Communications Earth & Environment, 5 (1), pp. 1-10, doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01207-y
[4] Moorman, R., Thompson, A. F., Wilson, E. A.: Coastal polynyas enable transitions between high and low West Antarctic ice shelf melt rates. Geophysical Research Letters, 50, e2023GL104724, doi: 10.1029/2023GL104724.
[3] Haumann, F. A., Moorman, R., Riser, S., Smedsrud, L. H., Maksym, T., Wong, A. P. S., Wilson, E. A., Drucker, R., Talley, L. D., Johnson, K. S., Key, R. M., Sarmiento, J. L.: Supercooled Southern Ocean Waters. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL090242, doi: 10.1029/2020GL090242.
[2] Moorman, R., Morrison, A. K., and Hogg, A. McC. (2020): Thermal responses to Antarctic ice shelf melt in an eddy-rich ocean–sea ice model. Journal of Climate, vol. 33 (15), pp. 6599–6620, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0846.1
[1] Li, D., Moorman, R., Vanhercke, T., Petrie, J., Singh, S & Jackson, C.J. (2016): Classification and substrate head-group specificity of membrane fatty acid desaturases. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, vol. 14, pp. 341-349 doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2016.08.003.
Theses
Moorman, R. (2019): Response of Antarctic ocean circulation to increased meltwater. Honours Thesis. Supervisors: Adele K. Morrison and Andrew McC. Hogg. doi: 10.25911/5de4da691ed03
Teaching & Mentoring
2022, 2024 | Teaching Assistant for Caltech ESE144 "Climate from Space", a mixed undergraduate and graduate level class introducing students to the use of satellite remote sensing to study the Earth's climate system. Class is lectured by a series of guest lecturers from NASA JPL. Assistant to Andrew Thompson (Caltech), Joao Teixeria (JPL), and guest lecturers.
2023 | Coadvisor to an undergraduate summer researcher (Emma Beniston, visiting from Cambridge University) alongside Scott Conn and Andrew Thompson. Student project was titled "Effect of Bathymetry on the Dynamics of Southern Ocean Subpolar Gyres".
2023 | Volunteer tutor with the Caltech Rise Program, tutoring AP Physics and AP Calculus.
2023 | Teaching Assistant and Guest Lecturer for Caltech ESE102 "Earth's Oceans", a mixed undergraduate and graduate level class introducing the fundamentals of physical, chemical, and biological oceanography. Assistant to Joern Callies.
2018 | Lab Teaching Assistant for ANU PHYS3034 "Physics of Fluid Flows", an upper level undergraduate class on environmental fluid physics. Guided students through classic environmental fluid experiments at the ANU's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab including baroclinic instability in a rotating tank, lock exchange gravity currents, side wall double diffusive convection, and hydraulic jumps. Assistant to Kial Stewart.
2016 - 2017 | Residential Hall Academic Advisor for Burton and Garran Hall, ANU. Role involved providing peer tutelage, coordinating study groups, managing a small library, and organising events that brought together Hall residents and ANU teaching staff (such as panel discussions and dinner events).
Service
2023 - present | Initiator and co-organizer of a new seminar series at Caltech, the Environmental & Sustainability Breakfast Exchange. This is a sometimes weekly, sometimes fortnightly, breakfast seminar aimed at bringing together folks across the Caltech campus with an interest in sustainability. We host both Caltech affiliated (students, postdocs, faculty, staff) and non-Caltech affiliated (community groups, organisers, industry representatives, etc) speakers who address an interdisciplinary audience.
2020 - present | Reviewer for Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) and Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans (JGR-Oceans).
2023 - present | Organizer for Caltech Grad Researchers and Postdocs United (CPGU), a United Auto Workers (UAW) chapter.
2022 - present | Sporadic outreach events at a middle school and high school level (including Temple City High School and Culverdale Elementary).
Fieldwork
2024 | CTD Watchstander on US-GOSHIP IO8S reoccupation (21st Feb - 1st Apr) under Sebastein Bigorre (chief scientist) and Katelyn Schockman (co-chief scientist). Read about my roles and experience onboard here.
Modeling work
I have run and analyzed output from configurations of ACCESS-OM2, MITgcm, Oceananigans
Scholarships & Prizes
Scholarships
2020 - 2023 | John Monash Scholarship, the General Sir John Monash Foundation.
2018 - 2019 | A L Hales Honours Scholarship, Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU.
2018 | Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Climate System Science Summer Scholarship, funded by the Department of the Environment.
2016 | Combined ANU and Banco Santander grant to attend the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) Global Summer Program "Sustainable Water Management in Africa" hosted by the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
2015 - 2018 | National Merit Scholarship, ANU.
Prizes
2023 | CalGFD Meeting Student Presentation Prize
2021 | West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Conference Remote Student Presentation Prize
2019 | University Medla, ANU
2018 | Geological Society of Australia ACT branch 'Mike Rickard 3rd year Prize"
2018 | Australian Meterological and Oceanographic Society ACT branch "Most Outstanding 3rd Year Undergraduate" Prize
2018 | Dean's Science Education Commendation, ANU
2016 | Australian Meterological and Oceanographic Society ACT branch "Most Outstanding 2nd Year Undergraduate" Prize (awarded for efforts in 1st year of undergraduate degree, somewhat confusingly)
2015, 2017 - 2019 | Chancellor's Letter of Commendation, ANU
Conferences & Workshop Participation
2024 | Ocean Sciences Meeting 2024 (OSM24). Poster. [Presented by Andrew Thompson while I was at sea]
2023 | West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Workshop. Oral Presentation. [Cloquet, USA]
2023 | CalGFD (California Geophysical Fluid Dynamics) Meeting. Oral Presentation. [San Diego, USA] *prize awarded
2023 | Forum for Research into Ice Shelf Processes (FRISP). Oral Presentation and Poster. [Stalheim, Norway]
2022 | Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics (AOFD). Oral Presentation. [virtual]
2022 | Ocean Sciences Meeting 2022 (OSM22). Oral Presentation. [virtual]
2021 | West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Workshop. Oral Presentation. [virtual] *prize awarded
2020 | Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) Meeting. Oral Presentation. [virtual]
2020 | NASA GISS Sea Level Rise Seminar. Invited Seminar. [virtual]
2020 | Flux Anomaly Forced Model Intercomparison Project (FAFMIP) Meeting. Oral Presentation. [virtual]
2020 | Ocean Sciences Meeting 2022 (OSM22). Oral Presentation. [San Diego, USA]
2019 | Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society (AMOS) ACT Meeting. Oral Presentation. [Canberra, Australia]
2019 | Consortium for Ocean-Sea Ice Modeling in Australia (COSIMA) Workshop. Oral Presentation. [Canberra, Australia]
2019 | Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society (AMOS) Conference. Oral Presentation. [Darwin, Australia]
2019| Advanced Ocean Modeling Summer School. Student Participant. [Pedder Lake, Australia]
2018 | ARC CoE on Climate Extremes (CLEX) Annual Workshop. Poster. [Wollongong, Australia]
2018 | National Geodesy Meeting. Oral Presentation. [Canberra, Australia]
2016 | Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium Marine Geoscience Masterclass. Student Participant. [Dunedin and Wellington, New Zealand]
2016 | International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) Global Summer Program "Sustainable Water Management in Africa". Student Participant. [Cape Town, South Africa]