Hello World! My name is Houraa (pronounced Her-rah) Daher and I am a second year PhD student at the University of Miami in Miami, FL. I am studying ocean dynamics at the Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). I am working with Dr. Lisa Beal on a project focusing on the Agulhas Current Leakage off the coast of South Africa.
I am originally from Toledo, Ohio and graduated from the University of Michigan with honors in 2015. I have a Bachelors of Science in Engineering with a degree in Earth Systems Sciences and Engineering. While at the University of Michigan I worked for Dr. Brian Arbic in his Physical Oceanography Modeling Lab. The project I worked on investigated how the global tidal energy dissipation varies over the history of the Earth-Moon system. After graduating, I worked at the NOAA-Great Lakes and Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) based in Ann Arbor, Michigan on a collaborative project with the National Park Service. The main goal of the project was to forecast the upcoming ice cave season at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore for tourism and budgeting purposes. After finishing up at GLERL, I worked as a Systems Engineer Intern at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The motivation behind the project was to explore how well Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) could be predicted using Machine Learning Algorithms.
In my free time when I am not doing research, I really enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, going to the beach, and playing sports. On my lazier days, I like to read, eat, watch tv, and take naps. And on fall Saturdays, you can catch me rooting for the Wolverines because wherever you go, Go Blue!