Mary Dahl

Mary Dahl is a PhD candidate in aeronautics and astronautics whose research is focused on the use of small satellites to further our knowledge of the Earth by using onboard AI to improve data collection. Supported by her second MathWorks Fellowship, Mary seeks to improve the way we measure clouds and aerosol interactions to make more accurate climate models by prioritizing and targeting clouds of particular types. The objectives of Mary’s current project are: to design a look-ahead instrument that can autonomously identify clouds of interest, to develop an algorithm that chooses which clouds to prioritize and designs a path to measure them, and to combine this in a simulation environment to test and verify performance. Her efforts could not only benefit climate research but also help optimize satellite tasking to obtain cloud-free images for security needs when the presence of clouds may be detrimental. Outside of this work, she is contributing to a book on MATLAB applications for small satellites. Her research aims to expand the capabilities of small satellites to support climate modeling and research.