CSU Atmospheric Science graduate student finds her place studying aerosols
By Theresa Barosh | May 2026 | Originally published in SOURCE
Doctoral student Jennifer McGinnis has been a lifelong learner in the field of aerosols in her time at Colorado State University, even working through a federal shutdown to learn from the experience.
McGinnis went to Maryland in the fall of 2025 as one of three NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research II 2025 visiting scholars to study aerosols – particles in the air that are much smaller than fine beach sand and have serious health outcomes.
At Goddard, McGinnis began working with her mentor Robert Levy who is a Research Physical Scientist at NASA. McGinnis learned from Levy as an expert in aerosol satellite retrievals and many other subject matter experts at Goddard, including Alexei Lyapustin – developer of the first satellite algorithm McGinnis learned to plot.
“It was truly a full circle moment in my career to meet him,” said McGinnis.
Then, the record-breaking 43-day shutdown started in October.
“When the government shut down, I wasn’t able to go to the Goddard campus anymore,” said McGinnis. “I ended up going to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) campus quite a lot during the shutdown, and that was really great networking.”
Networking, The Most Exciting Part
At Maryland, McGinnis talked with Professor Zhibo Zhang whose research uses satellite data to study aerosols, clouds and radiation. McGinnis said she appreciated learning about the algorithms needed for different aerosols and how aerosols interact with radiation.
McGinnis has expertise in using satellite information to detect dust storms through her master’s advisors, Colorado State University Department of Atmospheric Science Professors Jeffrey Pierce and Emily Fischer. Mineral dust is one type of aerosol that weather satellites can detect.
“The most exciting part of the fellowship was just meeting all of the people that I’ve read so much about,” said McGinnis. “I’ve been reading papers by all of these really big name scientists.”
Throughout her visit, McGinnis had conversations about her research and future prospects with experts in her field and adjacent studies. She also shared presentations on her work at Maryland and met other early career researchers.
A History of Building Collaborations with Multiple Mentors
McGinnis started her educational journey at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and environmental sciences. “I knew I liked health-related things and environment-related things, but I didn’t really know exactly what that meant for me.”
McGinnis worked in a microbiology lab and found that it was not the right fit. She took an air quality class her senior year and was inspired to join the research group of a professor, Tracey Holloway, who taught the course. “I learned a lot about health and air quality, and satellite data working with her, and I just really loved it.”
McGinnis decided to stay in the air quality field and started considering pursuing a graduate degree with one of Holloway’s collaborators on a UW NASA team. That is how she connected with Pierce at CSU, by working within the NASA team on pollutant exposure and health impacts in rural U.S. regions. McGinnis joined Pierce’s research lab to pursue her master’s degree, completed in 2025.
She also worked with Professor Steve Miller, director of CSU’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere using his dust detection satellite product.
McGinnis continues to work with Pierce, focusing on dust in pursuit of her doctorate. She plans to incorporate machine learning as a tool to address concentrations on the Earth’s surface of coarse particulate matter – particles smaller than 10 micrometers and larger than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. With less information available on coarse particulate matter than fine particulate matter (smaller than 2.5 micrometers), McGinnis plans to address that gap using large datasets from weather satellites stationed over the United States.