Dr. Benjamin R. Johnston is a Project Scientist I within the Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS) at UCAR and has worked within QOSAP since 2022. His current work focuses on optimizing the assimilation of GNSS-RO observations within NOAA’s next-generation hurricane model, the Hurricane and Analysis Forecast System (HAFS), to maximize the impact of various RO data sources on operational hurricane forecasts. His primary research interests include GNSS-RO data evaluation, remote sensing, tropical cyclones, convective processes and dynamics, and climate studies including ENSO and tropopause variability.
He received his B.S. in Meteorology from California University of Pennsylvania in 2009, his M.S. in atmospheric science from the University of Maryland in 2012, and his Ph.D. in Coastal and Marine Systems Science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2019. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship within the COSMIC program at UCAR in 2022.