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Kati Togliatti
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 I am a postdoc with Tom Sauer researching eddy covariance and the effects of tree windbreaks on fluxes. I received my BSc in Atmospheric Sciences from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Go Illini!) and my Msc and PhD in Agricultural Meteorology from Iowa State University.

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Was there an event or a person who inspired you to become a scientist? 

My freshman year of college I took a weather class and enjoyed it so much I switched my major to atmospheric sciences! The summer before my senior year I was able to be an undergraduate
research assistant to Drs. Becky Slattery and Andy VanLoocke. We conducted research at SoyFACE at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and I really loved the process of setting up experiments, collecting data, and analyzing data. That job helped me realize that there are other jobs for meteorologist besides forecasting. From there I went on to do my MS and PhD in agricultural meteorology at Iowa State University.

 

What attracted you to ARS or the NLAE?

I had collaborated with other people from ARS during my PhD research and knew it was a good place to look for postdoc opportunities. Thankfully Tom Sauer was looking for a postdoc! 

 

What is your favorite aspect of conducting research?

My favorite part of research is getting to work outside and setting up equipment.

 

If you could achieve any research accomplishment in the next 5-10 years what would it be and why would you choose it? 

I want to help improve weather models and how they use vegetation in the model. This would help improve weather forecasts which impact all of us.

 

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise people who know you? 

I like to play video games and have built my own gaming PCs.