Our fellows

My name is Fernando Pacheco Bueno. I am an Ecuadorian environmental engineer with a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Technology, along with postgraduate studies in weather and climate modeling; both from Ghent University in Belgium. My research focuses on modeling super-coarse dust particles in the atmosphere and understanding their role in the Earth’s climate system. By improving how climate models represent the size, transport, and distribution of these larger particles, we aim to achieve more accurate estimates of their radiative forcing.

During my bachelor’s degree, I studied physics at the University of Milan, my home town. During this time, I followed with interest climate-related courses, which led me to pursue a master’s degree in climate physics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Drawn by my fascination with mountains and pristine nature, I conducted my master’s thesis at the Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE) in Grenoble, where I studied Antarctic ice shelves using machine learning techniques.

Building on my experience in climate modeling and data analysis, I am now part of the Dust-DN project, where my research will focuses on modeling the spatial representation of resolved mineralogy. By integrating newly released satellite data, the project aims to improve our understanding of airborne dust effects on climate, particularly over Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The modeled predictions will be evaluated against in-situ, remote, and satellite observations.

Eleni Kolintziki majored in Agriculture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, completing her thesis on land degradation and how it affects food security in Greece and Tunisia, employing the cloud-based remote sensing tool ‘’trends.earth’’ and calculating the 15.3.1 SDG indicator. She earned a Master’s in Environmental Sciences from Trinity College Dublin, where she broadened her knowledge on pressing environmental issues, while becoming familiar with environmental policies and more advanced geospatial analysis. She has an interdisciplinary background and experience in research, bringing a diverse skill set to her work. As a PhD researcher within the Marie Curie-funded DUST-DN network at the Cyprus Institute, she will focus on quantifying and characterizing dust microphysical properties in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Her research will integrate in situ and remote sensing tools for monitoring dust and identifying their sources.