Project Title: Effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation on Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Transport over the Western United States.

Mentors: Juliana Dias and John Albers, CIRES/NOAA/ESRL

Bio: Austin Ortiz was born and raised in Lakewood, Colorado. Originally pursuing a degree in accounting, he found his love of science on his journey. He completed a research internship before entering the RECCS program, which took him to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting, as well as Paris, France. His passion is in space science and cosmology. However, he also found new excitement in atmospheric science. He spends a lot of his day studying, spending time with his family and playing with his puppy.

Austin is currently taking courses at Red Rocks Community College, where he has already received two Associates degrees in Business and Accounting. He is working hard to finish his math and science courses so he can pursue his degree in science at the University of Colorado Denver. In addition, he will be working on his Master’s degree in accounting. His goal is to get a PhD in planetary science and spend his life working for NASA, making new discoveries about the universe.

View a short 90-second elevator speech.