Q&A with Evan Meeker
December 11, 2023
“What if we could predict when climate disasters were going to strike, and how they affect the surrounding areas? Thanks to researchers like Evan Meeker, that may be possible! Meeker double-majored in physics and astrophysics at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, joining Minnesota’s Conservation Corps (CC) after graduating. With the CC, he spent a year doing natural resource management — including restoration projects, planting trees, invasive species removal, and disaster relief — before spending another year as an environmental technician with the National Guard.
Meeker’s work with the National Guard introduced him to geographic information system (GIS) technology, and was so enthralled with it that he completed a graduate certificate program in GIS at Antioch University. Then, while interning at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Meeker switched paths to focus on climate science. “I learned a lot more about climate models and working on the physical earth system and fell in love with it,” Meeker says. “I knew this was the career I wanted, so I applied to grad schools and now I’m here in Wisconsin.” Meeker is now working towards a PhD in atmospheric sciences, and his research overlaps with the Nelson Institute’s Center for Climatic Research. Meeker is also a 2023 recipient of the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship through the U.S. Department of Defense, giving him a head-start in his graduate research.”
Read the full Nelson Institute interview by Laila Smith, October 30, 2023