MIT invites Sue van den Heever to be Houghton Lecturer

Professor Sue van den Heever has accepted an invitation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be a scientist-in-residence in Fall 2021 as part of its Houghton Lectures. Houghton Lecturers share their expertise with MIT’s atmospheres, oceans and climate program, often presenting a short course to faculty and students.

“It is a great honor and a humbling experience to be included amongst the likes of previous winners of this award,” van den Heever said. “I am really looking forward to this opportunity of an extended stay at MIT, which will give me the chance to work with several great colleagues and friends.”

van den Heever plans to speak about the dynamics of deep convective storms including updrafts and cold pool dynamics, the representation of microphysical processes within numerical models, and aerosol-cloud interactions within convective storms.

The lectures are named for Henry Houghton, who served as head of MIT’s meteorology department for 25 years. Distinguished scientists from around the world, including CSU alumnus Bjorn Stevens, presented past lectures.

“Houghton himself did a lot of pioneering work on precipitation mechanisms and the ways in which precipitation processes may be modified by the presence of particles in the atmosphere,” van den Heever said. “Understanding the impacts of atmospheric aerosols on convective cloud processes is one of the primary foci of my research, and this research link makes winning this award all the more special.”