Dr. Lareau is a professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. His research uses cutting-edge science observing platforms, including radars and lidars, to advance our understanding of extreme wildfire processes, including fire-generated thunderstorms and tornadoes. A central theme of this work is helping to identify why, when, and where these potentially life threatening phenomena will occur. This work has garnered considerable national and international attention from both the scientific community and the public at large, including via regular media interviews.
At UNR Dr. Lareau teaches graduate and undergraduate courses focused on understanding and predicting real-world weather across scales. These courses provide students with the opportunity to apply complex physics to practical weather scenarios. His research program supports both undergraduate and graduate researchers and is funded by the NSF and DOE.
Beyond academics, Dr. Lareau is a lover of mountains and winter sports. When not at work, he can be skiing and biking in and around his home in Truckee, CA. Unfortunately, these pursuits are threatened by a changing climate, be it via highly variable winter snow packs, or increased fire-impacts on the landscape and air quality. These threats motivate Dr. Lareau’s engagement with a public climate discourse.
Neil Lareau
