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Faculty

Morgan O'Neill, Assistant Professor of Physics

Contact: morgan.oneill ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ utoronto.ca

My work focuses on separating the physics that are fundamental to extreme events from the conditions imposed by a variety of climates. My prior research focused on applying tropical meteorology theory to giant planet dynamics. I am now focused on terrestrial problems of severe weather in a warming world, including tropical cyclones and supercell thunderstorms.

I received my B.S. in Physics at the University of New Hampshire in 2009, and my Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at MIT in 2015 working with Dr. Kerry Emanuel. I was a Koshland Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science and then a T. C. Chamberlin Fellow at the University of Chicago before joining the Earth System Science faculty at Stanford in 2018. I began an assistant professorship in the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto in January 2024.

Recommended reading: I am an AI hater (by Anthony Moser). I strongly discourage any use of LLMs or generative AI that deals with creative work of any kind, and I don't touch it myself. There are noble uses for machine learning that is data-driven; e.g. the revolution in weather forecasting is exciting and important. That is not the kind of research that I do because it's not my preference but I am happy to collaborate with experts in that area as the opportunity arises. Generative AI as commonly used is a total intellectual, environmental, and ethical disaster.

Service and leadership:

  • Chair-Elect of the American Physical Society (APS) Group on the Physics of Climate

  • member of the APS Committee on the International Freedom of Scientists

  • member of the IUPAP Working Group 21: Physics for Climate Change Action and Sustainable Development

  • volunteer with the nonprofit Palestinian Students & Scholars At Risk (PSSAR.org)

Postdocs

- Dr. Rosa Vargas Martes

(co-advised by Prof. Allison Wing at Florida State University)

PhD Students

- Arun Balakrishna

(Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University; co-advised by Parviz Moin)

- Ashraf Modares

- Parveer Banwait

Undergraduate Students

- Mafo Amoussou

Group Alumni

- Laurel Regibeau-Rockett

(PhD 2025, Stanford)

- Daniel Stedman

(2024 summer research and indep. study student)

- Ipshita Dey

(PhD 2024, Stanford; now research scientist at NCAS/University of Reading)

- Peter Phan

(2024 summer research student)

- Hao Fu

(PhD 2023, Stanford; faculty at Nanjing University)

- Anissa Foster

(MS co-term 2023, Stanford)

- Henri Stern

(MS co-term 2022, Stanford)

Opportunities

PhD students and postdocs

I am seeking 1-2 new PhD students to start in Fall 2025, to apply this fall. Unfortunately I am unable to have meetings with prospective students in advance of application deadlines. But please consider applying to the Physics Department! I have funding for tornadogenesis theory/modeling and pyrocumulonimbus projects, both with relevance to large-scale climate.

Looking for more Masters, PhD, postdoc and professional opportunities in the Earth sciences? Consider joining this mailing list (mostly US) and this mailing list (more international) to receive daily updates about new opportunities.

Undergraduate opportunities

I am open to working with UofT undergraduates who are interested in a research project. Feel free to contact me and set up a meeting if you'd like to get involved with our work, and we can explore whether there is a suitable project for your interests and strengths.

Lab policy on free labor

Unfortunately, we do not allow any members to conduct research without receiving either academic credit, a stipend or a research award. Therefore we are unable to accept volunteer research of any kind.