You will earn 6 research credits over 8 weeks, conducting a faculty-supervised, hands-on, directed study research project with results that will culminate in the preparation of a research paper.
You will complete a minimum of 240 hours on research in and out of the laboratory. Your dedicated research location is determined by your project and will differ between IISTA and UGR.
To prepare for this experience you will speak with your research mentor before arriving in Spain to work on a literature review.
| Course ID | Title | Credits | Syllabus |
| GRAN RSLW 392S | International Independent Research in STEM Fields | 6 |
| Course ID | Title | Credits | Syllabus |
| GRAN RSLW 392S | International Independent Research in STEM Fields | 6 |
The atmosphere is composed of gases, clouds and aerosol particles. Aerosols are minute particles suspended in the atmosphere. Aerosols interact both directly and indirectly with the Earth's radiation budget and climate. They are a key component of the atmosphere since they scatter and absorb sunlight. Their scattering of sunlight can reduce visibility (haze) and redden sunrises and sunsets. As an indirect effect, aerosols in the lower atmosphere are responsible for cloud formation and can modify the properties of cloud particles. However, they are very difficult to characterize because of their large spatial and temporal variability. Because of this, there is still a gap of knowledge related to aerosol particles and their impact on climate change. A better characterization of their spatial and temporal distribution based on experimental data is key to understand and mitigate climate change.
17 years of measurements using sun photometer measurements are available at Granada. Sun photometers are remote sensors that can measure the aerosol load in the atmosphere and their properties from the Earth’s surface. Using these properties, it is possible to distinguish the different aerosol types in the atmosphere and their effects. The sun-photometer at Granada is included in AERONET NASA’s network, which is a worldwide network that provides global information about aerosol properties. The goal of this project is to characterize the aerosol types in the city of Granada and their temporal variation during the past 17 years. The analysis can also be extended to other stations in any part of the world using AERONET data.
In this research project, we aim to learn how to exploit the database from AERONET sun photometers, to apply aerosol typing classification schemes and to analyze the temporal trends of aerosol properties. This will allow us to characterize aerosol composition and temporal variations over the city of Granada. The research will be performed under the supervision of María José Granados Muñoz (PhD) and Juan Antonio Bravo Aranda (PhD), in the IISTA, where the students will have the opportunity to work with all the available instrumentation and do hands-on training with the instruments and databases. IISTA is a state-of-the-art atmospheric research center where great aerosol experts and young students and researchers work together in a great environment, so we are looking for motivated candidates with team play skills.
The atmosphere is composed of gases, aerosol particles… and clouds! Clouds are a key component of the atmosphere that is often dismissed when considering its components. They are crucial in the interaction with radiation and in the hydrological cycle, but very difficult to characterize because of their large spatial and temporal variability. There is still a gap of knowledge related to cloud formation and the physical processes occurring within. Because of this, they are usually not accurately characterized in climatic, forecast and radiative transfer models. A better characterization of clouds and processes occurring within based on experimental data is key to understand and mitigate climate change.
Measurements within clouds are usually difficult to perform because of their high altitude and are very scarce and here it is where remote sensors become useful. Remote sensing observations from the ground and space have provided key datasets for understanding the Earth´s atmosphere, including clouds. Satellites provide a wide spatial coverage, but with low temporal and vertical resolution. Ground-based measurements are located at local sites, but they provide high temporal and vertical resolution, so the combination of the different measurements is needed to obtain comprehensive information.
At Granada, we have a Doppler cloud radar that can continuously provide information about cloud properties and with high-vertical resolution. It has also scanning capabilities that allow the study in 4D. Furthermore, there are multiple algorithms to retrieve different properties of the liquid water droplets forming the cloud, which will also allow us to characterize them. In this research project, we aim to learn how to exploit the database from the radar system and to apply some of these algorithms to familiarize with cloud properties and cloud radar data processing. Once we have retrieved some properties, we will try to characterize cloudiness over the city of Granada making use of the cloud radar experimental database. The research will be performed in the IISTA under the supervisor of María José Granados Muñoz (PhD) and Juan Antonio Bravo Aranda (PhD) looking for motivated candidates with Team play skills.
The Earth's atmosphere contains crucial yet often underexplored aspects, and one of these is the boundary layer: essential components of the atmosphere, influencing meteorological and environmental processes. Unfortunately, these layers are often challenging to characterize due to their dynamic and complex nature. Understanding boundary layers is critical for improving climate models, weather predictions, and environmental management. Our approach to tackling this challenge is by employing remote sensing techniques, specifically elastic and Doppler lidar.
The boundary layer represents the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere, extending from the surface to a few kilometers in altitude. This region exhibits rapid changes in atmospheric variables, such as temperature, humidity, and wind speed, which significantly impact various environmental processes, including air quality, weather patterns, and energy transfer. Traditionally, characterizing boundary layers has proven challenging due to their high variability and complexity. However, recent advances in remote sensing technologies, especially elastic and Doppler lidar, provide a unique opportunity to investigate and monitor boundary layers with exceptional spatial and temporal resolution.
Research Objectives:
In this research project, the young researcher will collaborate with experts in remote sensing and atmospheric science. Our approach involves employing remote sensing equipment, including elastic and Doppler lidar, to collect real-time data on boundary layers and thus, it is open to several students. This data will undergo processing and analysis to extract information about boundary layer properties. As the project progresses, algorithms and methodologies for data processing will be developed and refined.
The research will be conducted at the Institute for Earch System Research (IISTA) in Granada, under the guidance of Dr. Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda and Dr. Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado. We are seeking motivated candidates with a passion for atmospheric science, remote sensing, and a strong ability to work as part of a team.
Alpine ecosystems have a high ecological value, high biodiversity, and provide important ecosystem services. However, alpine communities are highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events, which are increasingly frequent. The Project IBERALP pretends to study the vulnerability to climate change of biodiversity and the exchange of green house gases (GHG) in the alpine communities. The main objective of this project is the analysis of the interactions between components of biodiversity and their relationship with GHG fluxes; and how these interactions are affected by climate change. The student will take measurements of GHG fluxes on leaf, plant and community levels with different approximations. Also, environmental conditions with different stresses (water, depleted and elevated (CO2), pressure…) will be reproduced in a hypobaric chamber with a representative plant from Alpine ecosystem (for example, Nardus stricta) in order to study how plant adapts from pre-industrial environmental conditions to future ones.
The processes associated to cloud formation are of great relevance for the evolution of weather and climate since they regulate the global distribution of precipitation affecting the hydrological cycle and climate change. Atmospheric aerosols (small particles suspended in the atmosphere) can act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei particles (INP) affecting the cloud properties. These particles are emitted through natural (deserts, oceans, vegetation, etc.) and anthropogenic (traffic, industrial processes, etc.) sources. Depending on their size and chemical composition the ability of these particles as CCN or INP varies.
There are different techniques in order to determine the ability of particles as INP. One of them is the ice nuclei spectrometer that undergo a decreasing temperature ramp on water droplets until there is nucleation. This process can be controlled in a lab and monitorized with a camera. The image analysis allows determining the temperature of nucleation and determine the impact of the formation of ice clouds.
The main objective in this project is to:
Atmospheric aerosol is the suspension of solid or liquid particles in the atmosphere. These particles are of great importance for the Earth radiative budget and, therefore, the climate. Aerosol particles affect directly the earth-atmosphere radiative budget by scattering (cooling effect) and absorption (warming effect) of the solar radiation. Furthermore, these particles are the seed upon which cloud droplets form. Depending on their size and chemical composition, aerosol particles can act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and activate as cloud droplets. The aerosol-cloud interaction process depend on the aerosol emission sources and the atmospheric processing that the particles undergo, which determines the size and chemical composition of the particles.
In this project, we will analyze data measured during an intensive field campaign in Sierra Nevada (Spain) to investigate the impact of organic matter on the cloud condensation nuclei budget. Also, the role that the oxygenation degree might play on the cloud condensation nuclei properties will be investigated. Empirical models using ancillary information will be explored to improve the predictive capability of the CCN budget worldwide (Schmale et al., 2018).
The student in this project
We are a group focusing our research in the searching of non-invasive biomarkers in prostate and renal carcinoma. Our experience is validated with more than 70 scientific publications.
Precision medicine is an innovative approach that considers individual differences in patients' genes, environments, and lifestyles. Most strategies in medicine are focusing on non-invasive methodologies for screening and patients´monitoring, using liquid biopsy strategies having a complete molecular profiling of tumor in each patient. Considering the challenges associated with traditional biopsies, recent oncology research has shifted its focus toward analyzing various biological fluids rather than whole tissues for tumor-derived components; a technique referred to as liquid biopsy. The advances of sequencing technologies have successfully contributed in elucidating the function of the human genome. NGS technologies have gained the capacity to sequence gigabases of DNA in a high-throughput and highly efficient manner that has not been possible using traditional Sanger sequencing.
The student in these projects:
References:
Students should have completed the basic science/ engineering courses in their field.
Desired knowledge in:
The following information is vetted and provided by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) on the Electronic Database for Global Education (EDGE).
| Spanish | Abbreviation | Translation | Numeric | U.S. Equivalent |
| Sobresaliente | SB | Outstanding | 9 - 10 | A |
| Notable | NT | Very Good | 7 - 8.99 | B+ |
| Bien | B | Good | 6 - 6.99 | B |
| Aprobado | AP | Passing | 5 - 5.99 | C |
| Suspenso | S/I | Fail | 0 - 4.99 | F |