معرفی
Aradhna Tripati is a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles with joint appointments in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and the California Nanosystems Institute. She serves as the faculty director and founder of the Center for Developing Leadership in Science (CDLS) at UCLA.
Dr. Tripati received her B.S. in Geological Sciences from California State University, Los Angeles in 1996, where she received the Aaron Waters Award for Outstanding Senior. She earned her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at UC Santa Cruz in 2002, where she was a Gates Millennium Scholar, an Ocean Drilling Program Fellow, and a UC Regents' Fellow. Following her Ph.D., she was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, holding the Thomas Nevile Fellowship in Natural Sciences, a Comer Abrupt Climate Change Fellowship, a National Environmental Research Council Fellowship, and a Marshall Sherfield Fellowship. She also served as a visiting scientist at the California Institute of Technology for several years before joining UCLA as an assistant professor in 2009, receiving tenure in 2014.
Dr. Tripati's research focuses on climate change, the history and dynamics of changing Earth systems including climate, ice sheets, oceans, the water cycle, and carbon dioxide levels. She specializes in tool development and clumped isotope geochemistry, using the chemistry of natural compounds as well as models to understand how the Earth works. Her work addresses pressing questions pertaining to climate change, earth systems history, geochemistry, geobiology, and sedimentary geology. She also integrates geochemical data with field-based observations, sedimentologic and micropaleontologic data, and models. Her interdisciplinary approach spans multiple fields, connecting geological records with modern climate science to understand past and present environmental changes.
Dr. Tripati's extensive publication record, with 66 publications including 12 in Nature journals, Science, or PNAS, demonstrates her significant contributions to paleoclimatology and geochemistry. Her recent work shows a continued focus on clumped isotope thermometry, with applications to understanding past climate conditions, hydrological cycles, and Earth system processes. Her research spans various time periods from the Miocene to the Holocene, examining climate dynamics across different spatial scales from local lake systems to global ocean circulation patterns. A notable trend in her recent publications is the increasing integration of community engagement and environmental justice perspectives with traditional geochemical research.
- Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from President Obama
- NSF CAREER award (NSF's most prestigious award for early career faculty)
- Bromery Award for Minorities from the Geological Society of America
- Hellman Fellow
- National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow
- E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science on climate change
- Chair International D'Excellence in Stable Isotopes by IUEM
- Vasa Cube Awardee for UCLA's Fiat Lux Freshman Seminar program
- UCLA Career Development Award
Dr. Tripati has mentored over 130 postdoctoral fellows, researchers, PhD students, Master's students, undergraduates, high school teachers, and high school students. Her commitment to education extends beyond traditional academic mentoring, as she has developed numerous outreach programs to promote diversity in STEM fields. She has secured substantial research funding, including the NSF CAREER award which supported her work from 2014-2018, and has established world-renowned laboratories for clumped isotope geochemistry. Her research program is highly collaborative, involving partnerships with institutions worldwide and interdisciplinary teams addressing complex environmental questions.
Dr. Tripati directs the UCLA Geochemistry Facility, which houses specialized equipment for clumped isotope measurements including Thermo Finnigan MAT 253 and Nu Perspective IS mass spectrometers. Her 'Tripati Lab' (also known as the Climate & Biogeochemistry Group or Climate & Carbon Cycle Group) focuses on using the chemistry of natural compounds to understand Earth systems. The lab has established a strong reputation in clumped isotope geochemistry and maintains active collaborations with researchers globally. The lab follows a 'Star Wars naming convention' for its instruments, reflecting the team's enthusiasm for both science and pop culture. Dr. Tripati has also founded the Center for Developing Leadership in Science (CDLS), which aims to develop leadership skills in science students while promoting diversity and inclusion in environmental science and geoscience.
