Marysa Lague
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I’m a climate scientist who studies how the land surface modifies the rest of the coupled Earth system. Broadly, I study land-atmosphere interactions, climate dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, climate modelling, and the coupled climate system, as well as being active in the development, use, and analysis of both idealized and complex Earth system models.
I study how changes in the land can drive changes in the both the local atmosphere and the large-scale climate, by modulating fluxes of water and energy between the land and the atmosphere. I use models to test how individual land-surface properties modify energy and water fluxes to the atmosphere, and how those energy flux changes in turn impact atmospheric dynamics and climate, both locally and in regions far away from the initial land change. I am the lead scientific developer of the Simple Land Interface Model (SLIM, an idealized land surface model) which couples to the Community Earth System Model and allows users to isolate the effect on the Earth system of changes in individual aspects of the land surface.
I am particularly interested in understanding where the atmosphere cares about changes in the land surface, and what particular properties of the land surface it is that the atmosphere cares about. In addition to my main area of research, I greatly enjoy interdisciplinary research collaborations on a wide range of topics, ranging from macrosystems ecology to paleocliamte to the study of exoplanets.
Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!
- Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
- Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
- Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
- Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
- Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
- Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
- Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
- Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
- Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
- Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
- Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
- Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
- Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
- Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
- Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.
ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.
Supervision Enquiry
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