Fernando De Sales

Fernando De Sales is an Associate Professor of Geography at San Diego State University (SDSU), located within the Department of Geography under the College of Arts and Letters. His research focuses on understanding Earth's physical environment through climate modeling, particularly interactions between the atmosphere and surface. He investigates climate processes at regional/global scales and seasonal/annual timescales, addressing issues like drought impacts, crop effects of global warming, wildfires, and Tibetan Plateau snowpack. He is affiliated with SDSU's Center for Climate and Sustainability Study, Blue Gold Center of Excellence, and Center for Information Convergence and Strategy. He teaches courses such as GEOG 101 (Earth’s Physical Environment), GEOG 409 (Global Climate Change), and a graduate seminar on climate science modeling (GEOG 596).

Education: Ph.D. (Geography, UCLA, 2006); M.Sc. (Atmospheric Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo, 2000); B.Sc. (Atmospheric Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo, 1998).

Research interests include climate modeling, land-atmosphere interactions, dynamic downscaling, and forecast verification. Notable projects explore land-use changes, dust aerosol impacts, and burned area effects on climate. His funded research includes studies on groundwater storage and East Asian climate variability (NSF EaSM-3 grant).

Awards include SDSU’s 2015 Research Start-up Funds ($25K), UCLA’s 2009 Staff Achievement Award, and a Dissertation Fellowship (2005-2006). He serves on SDSU’s Internal Resources and Public Relations committees and reviews for journals like Climate Dynamics and Journal of Climate.

Key grants include a 2014-2018 NSF EaSM-3 grant ($2.15M) and a 2016-2017 SDSU University Grant ($9K). His work emphasizes interdisciplinary training and solving climate-related challenges through modeling and data-driven approaches.