My updated CV is available on my github repository here

Benjamin R. Hillman

PO Box 5800
Mail Stop 0734
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0734
bhillma@sandia.gov // (425) 218-8086

Education

Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, June 2016
M.S., Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2012
B.S., Physics and Mathematics Cum Laude, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 2008
A.S., Shoreline Community College, Seattle, WA, 2005

Research Experience

Technical Staff, Department of Atmospheric Science / Climate Systems, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, Spring 2017-present

  • Improving understanding of cloud processes and model biases through high resolution atmospheric modeling and observations.
  • Development and analysis of cutting-edge techniques for improved simulation in global climate models, including the use and development of super-parameterization and regionally-fined meshes.

Postdoctoral Appointee, Department of Atmospheric Science, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, Summer 2016–Spring 2017

  • Improving understanding of Arctic cloud processes and model biases through high resolution atmospheric modeling and observations.
  • Development and analysis of cutting-edge techniques for improved simulation in global climate models, including the use and development of super-parameterization and regionally-fined meshes.

Graduate Research Associate, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Fall 2008–Spring 2016

  • Evaluating cloud properties in atmospheric models against satellite remote sensing retrievals using satellite instrument simulators to account for limitations and uncertainties in retrievals.
  • Quantification of uncertainties and inherent biases in the satellite simulator framework due to repre- sentations of unresolved scales.
  • Development and implementation of an improved parameterization of unresolved cloud properties for use in satellite simulators.

Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, Summer 2008

  • Modeling growth of thin semiconductor films using a deposition, diffusion, aggregation model.

Research interests

Dr. Hillman’s research interests include the development, evaluation, and application of global atmosphere models, especially the representation of clouds and their interaction with radiant energy transfer in those models. Dr. Hillman is heavily involved in the development of the Department of Energy’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), including efforts to push the atmosphere component of the model to very high (cloud resolving) resolutions and preparing the model for next generation supercomputing architectures. Dr. Hillman obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where he worked under Dr. Thomas Ackerman and Dr. Roger Marchand on methods for evaluating clouds in global climate models using satellite instrument simulators to improve comparisons between models and satellite retrievals.

Technical Skills

  • Development and analysis of a range of global climate models, including the GFDL global atmosphere model (AM2), the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM), the Super-Parameterized Com- munity Atmosphere Model (SP-CAM), and the DOE Accelerated Climate Model for Energy (ACME)
  • Expertise in the use of satellite instrument simulators for model evaluation
  • Development of analysis tools for end-user applications, including incorporation of new diagnostics into the NCAR Atmosphere Model Working Group (AMWG) diagnostics package
  • Experience with a range of programming and analysis languages including Fortran (77 and 90), C, Python, Matlab, NCL, and UNIX shell scripting
  • Analysis of geospatial datasets using the netCDF operators (NCO)
  • Using git and github for software version control and project management • Working in high-performance computing environments

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant, Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (ATM S 341), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Spring 2014
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Weather (ATM S 101), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Winter 2010
Teaching Assistant, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, Winter 2006–Spring 2008

Field Experience

Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEx) Steamboat Springs, CO, Winter 2011

Honors

2011 NCAR Advanced Study Program Graduate Visitor
2008 Dr. James and Joann Albers memorial scholarship
2007 Dr. James and Joann Albers memorial scholarship

Publications

Mark Taylor, Peter M. Caldwell, Luca Bertagna, Conrad Clevenger, Aaron Donahue, James Foucar, Oksana Guba, Benjamin Hillman, Noel Keen, Jayesh Krishna, Matthew Norman, Sarat Sreepathi, Christopher Terai, James B. White, Andrew G Salinger, Renata B McCoy, Lai-yung Ruby Leung, David C. Bader, and Danqing Wu. 2023. The Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model Running on the Frontier Exascale System. In Proceedings of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC ‘23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 7, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3581784.3627044

Tang, Q., Golaz, J.-C., Van Roekel, L. P., Taylor, M. A., Lin, W., Hillman, B. R., Ullrich, P. A., Bradley, A. M., Guba, O., Wolfe, J. D., Zhou, T., Zhang, K., Zheng, X., Zhang, Y., Zhang, M., Wu, M., Wang, H., Tao, C., Singh, B., Rhoades, A. M., Qin, Y., Li, H.-Y., Feng, Y., Zhang, Y., Zhang, C., Zender, C. S., Xie, S., Roesler, E. L., Roberts, A. F., Mametjanov, A., Maltrud, M. E., Keen, N. D., Jacob, R. L., Jablonowski, C., Hughes, O. K., Forsyth, R. M., Di Vittorio, A. V., Caldwell, P. M., Bisht, G., McCoy, R. B., Leung, L. R., and Bader, D. C.: The fully coupled regionally refined model of E3SM version 2: overview of the atmosphere, land, and river results, Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3953–3995, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3953-2023, 2023.

Zhang, X., Tang, H., Zhang, J., Walsh, J. E., Roesler, E. L., Hillman, B., Ballinger, J., Weijer, W. Arctic cyclones have become more intense and longer-lived over the past seven decades. Commun Earth Environ 4, 348 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01003-0

Zhang, J., Zhang, X., Walsh, J. E., Roesler, E., Hillman, B. (2023). Concurrence of blowing snow and polynya enhances arctic surface–atmosphere interaction: a modeling study with an extreme wind event in 2018. Environ. Res.: Climate 2 011004. doi:10.1088/2752-5295/acb9b1

Caldwell, P. M., Terai, C. R., Hillman, B., Keen, N. D., Bogenschutz, P., Lin, W., et al. (2021). Convection-permitting simulations with the E3SM global atmosphere model. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13, e2021MS002544. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002544.

Wang, J., Fan, J., Feng, Z., Zhang, K., Roesler, E., Hillman, B., et al. (2021). Impact of a new cloud microphysics parameterization on the simulations of mesoscale convective systems in E3SM. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13, e2021MS002628. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002628

Norman. M. R., D. Bader, C. Eldred, W. M. Hannah, B. Hillman, C. R. Jones, J. M. Lee, L. R. Leung, I. Lyngaas, K. G. Pressel, S. Sreepathi, M. A. Taylor, and X. Yuan, 2020: Unprecedented Cloud Resolution in a GPU-Enabled Full-Physics Atmospheric Climate Simulation on OLCF’s Summit Supercomputer, Int. J. of High Perf. Comp. App., doi:10.1177/10943420211027539.

Hannah, W. M., Jones, C. R., Hillman, B. R., Norman, M. R., Bader, D. C., Taylor, M. A., et al. (2020). Initial results from the super-parameterized E3SM. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. 12, e2019MS001863. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001863.

Hillman, B. R., R. T. Marchand, T. P. Ackerman (2018), Sensitivities of simulated satellite views of clouds to subgrid-scale overlap and condensate heterogeneity. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD027680.

Hillman, B. R., R. T. Marchand, T. P. Ackerman, G. G. Mace, and S. Benson (2017), Assessing the accuracy of MISR and MISR-simulated cloud top heights using CloudSat- and CALIPSO-retrieved hydrometeor profiles, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 122, doi:10.1002/2016JD025510.

Hillman, B. R. (2016), Reducing errors in simulated satellite views of clouds from large-scale models. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington.

Hillman, B. R., (2012), Evaluating clouds in global climate models using instrument simulators. M.S. thesis, University of Washington.

Kay, J. E., B. R. Hillman, S. A. Klein, Y. Zhang, B. Medeiros, R. Pincus, A. Gettelman, B. Eaton, J. Boyle, R. Marchand, and T. P. Ackerman (2012), Exposing global cloud biases in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) using satellite observations and their corresponding instrument simulators, J. Climate, 25, 5190–5207, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00469.1.

Selected Presentations

Hillman, B. R., R. Marchand, T. P. Ackerman, 2014: Comparison of MISR and MISR-simulated cloud top heights using CloudSat and CALIPSO profiles. MISR Science Team Meeting, Pasadena, CA.

Hillman, B. R., R. Marchand, T. P. Ackerman, A. Bodas-Salcedo, J. Cole, J.-C. Golaz, J. E. Kay, 2012: Comparing cloud biases in CMIP5: insights using MISR and ISCCP American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Hillman, B. R., R. Marchand, T. P. Ackerman, A. Bodas-Salcedo, J. Cole, J.-C. Golaz, J. E. Kay, 2012: An intercomparison of clouds and radiation in CMIP5 models using MISR and ISCCP simulators. 1st Pan-Global Atmosphere Systems Studies (GASS) Conference, Boulder, CO.

Hillman, B. R., J. E. Kay, S. A. Klein, Y. Zhang, B. Medeiros, R. Pincus, A. Gettelman, B. Eaton, J. Boyle, R. Marchand, and T. P. Ackerman, 2011: Evaluating clouds in climate models using satellite simulators: from mean state to feedbacks. MISR Data Users Symposium, Pasadena, CA.

Hillman, B. R., J. E. Kay, S. A. Klein, Y. Zhang, B. Medeiros, R. Pincus, A. Gettelman, B. Eaton, J. Boyle, R. Marchand, and T. P. Ackerman, 2011: Evaluating clouds in climate models using satellite simulators: from mean state to feedbacks. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Hillman, B., 2011: Use of satellite instrument simulators in the evaluation of climate models. University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences Physics and Chemistry Seminar, Seattle, WA.

Hillman, B., J. Kay, and T. Ackerman, 2011: Evaluating clouds in the Community Atmosphere Model using COSP. Poster presentation, CESM Annual Workshop, Breckenridge, CO.

Hillman, B., R. Marchand, and T. Ackerman, 2010: Evaluation of Clouds in Climate Models Using In- strument Simulators. Western Washington University Physics Department Invited Colloquium, Bellingham, WA.

Hillman, B., R. Marchand, and T. Ackerman, 2010: Evaluation of Low Clouds in the NCAR CAM3 and GFDL AM2 Using MISR Joint Histograms. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Hillman, B., R. Marchand, and T. Ackerman, 2010: Evaluation of Low Clouds in the NCAR CAM3 and GFDL AM2 Using MISR Joint Histograms. MISR Data Users Symposium, Pasadena, CA.

Hillman, B., T. Ackerman, and R. Marchand, 2009: Evaluating global climate models using a MISR simu- lator. Presentation, MISR Data Users Science Symposium, Pasadena, CA.