People & Partners

People List: Leadership

Thomas Berger

Executive Director
SWx TREC
thomas.berger@colorado.edu303-735-8557

Tom is a solar physicist by training with degrees in mechanical engineering and astrophysics from Stanford University. He previously worked at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California, where he was a co-investigator on the Japanese/US/UK Hinode mission that launched in 2006. Tom was also project scientist for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope at the National Solar Observatory and was the director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center from 2014–2017 before coming ...

Jeff Thayer

SWx TREC Faculty Director, Professor
Aerospace Engineering SciencesColorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR)
Jeffrey.Thayer@colorado.edu303-492-1764

Jeff’s research program is rooted in applying engineering solutions to study the aerospace environment from our Earth’s surface to the geospace environment—the region of space strongly influenced by Earth’s gravitational and magnetic fields. He specializes in geophysical fluid dynamics, gas and plasma interactions, thermodynamics, and electrodynamics applied to the atmosphere and geospace. This field of research has increased over the years as our society rapidly becomes more economically and socially depen...

Eric Sutton

Senior Research Associate, SWx Research Lead
SWx TREC
eric.sutton@colorado.edu303-735-6110

Eric is a senior research associate at SWx TREC. Specializing in upper-atmospheric and ionospheric data analysis, theory, and modeling, Sutton has worked to improve the predictions most critical to the Space Situational Awareness Programme (SSA) and space traffic management of low-Earth orbiting assets. He is a proponent for using physics-based models to specify the state of the upper atmosphere and has tackled many technical challenges related to their implementation in an operational environment. Leading ...

Greg Lucas

MADTech Office Lead, SWx TREC
SWx TRECLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
greg.lucas@lasp.colorado.edu303-735-4586

Greg is a software engineer in the data systems group at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and is helping to build the model testbed environment for SWx TREC. He has a PhD in aerospace engineering focusing on remote sensing and global atmospheric modeling. As a postdoc, Greg investigated geomagnetically induced currents and hazards to the power grid from solar storms. He enjoys all outdoor activities, taking particular interests in running, biking, rock climbing, and frisbee.

Enrico Camporeale

Senior Research Scientist; Director, Deep Learning Lab
SWx TREC • CIRES
Enrico.Camporeale@Colorado.EDU

  Enrico is a research associate with CIRES and affiliated with the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center. He graduated in space plasma physics from the Queen Mary University of London. Enrico has worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Dutch National Center for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI). His research activities focus on the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve the forecasting capabilities of space weather models and on data-driven discovery of space physic...

Julia Putt

Project Manager, SWORD Center of Excellence
Research Services Program Management Office
julia.putt@colorado.edu303-735-7322

Julia manages SWx TREC’s finances, working within the CU system to balance the budget and plan the financial future of the center. She prepares budgets and other documentation for grant and contract proposals and manages award finances.  Julia earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Arizona, followed by her master’s degree in business administration at the University of Colorado Denver.  In her spare time, Julia enjoys exploring the outdoors with her husband and their rescued dog...

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