Tristan Ballard

Tristan Ballard

AI and Climate Science

Stanford University

Biography

I am a PhD student at Stanford University. My research interests include developing data-driven solutions to global challenges, with several research projects implementing modern data science techniques to better understand human impact on global climate and water resources over a range of scales.

Interests
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Sustainable Finance
  • Climate Risk
Education

  • PhD in Earth System Science, 2021

    Stanford University

  • MS in Statistics, 2020

    Stanford University

  • BS in Statistics, 2015

    Duke University

Skills

Statistics

R

Earth Science

Neural Networks
Python
Cycling

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Sust Global
Research Fellow
Sust Global
May 2020 – Present California
  • Applied AI and ML to latest climate models
  • Processed 100s of GBs of spatiotemporal data
  • Developed asset-level risk metrics
 
 
 
 
 
Stanford University
PhD Student
Stanford University
Sep 2015 – Aug 2021 California
  • Developed deep learning models for hazardous river temperatures
  • Employed quantile regression to identify shifts towards more extreme events
  • Modeled long-term climate impacts on nitrogen runoff across the U.S.
 
 
 
 
 
Duke University
Research Scientist
Duke University
Sep 2014 – Jun 2015 North Carolina
  • Applied Bayesian model averaging to climate model projections
  • Developed error metrics for Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations of wind power
  • Forecast Ethiopian precipitation changes due to climate change

Recent Posts

Hyperparameter tuning with R's tfruns package
Selecting hyperparameter values for a neural network can greatly improve performance. With many potential combinations of hyperparameter values, however, it can quickly become intractable to test combinations manually. R’s tfruns package helps implement this search and identify the best values.
Tristan Ballard
Last updated on Jun 24, 2021 9 min read
Hyperparameter tuning with R's tfruns package
RiverHeatNet: Building a river temperature neural network with Keras functional API
I develop a framework to flexibly incorporate both time-varying and static variables into a river temperature model with over 4 million observations.
Tristan Ballard
Last updated on Jun 22, 2021 7 min read
RiverHeatNet: Building a river temperature neural network with Keras functional API
FireSRnet: Geoscience-driven super-resolution of future fire risk from climate change
Advances in image super-resolution have led to the ability to generate strikingly photo-realistic images from low-resolution inputs. Inspired by these models, we create high-resolution maps of future wildfire risk, incorporating satellite observations, weather data, and climate models.
Tristan Ballard
Last updated on Jun 22, 2021 1 min read
FireSRnet: Geoscience-driven super-resolution of future fire risk from climate change
Extreme event analysis using quantile regression
Gentle introduction to using quantile regression to understand changes in distributions and extreme events using R and environmental datasets.
Tristan Ballard
Last updated on Jun 25, 2021 4 min read
Extreme event analysis using quantile regression

Recent Publications

Tristan Ballard, Anna Michalak, Gregory McIsaac, Nancy Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner (2019). Comment on “Legacy nitrogen may prevent achievement of water quality goals in the Gulf of Mexico”. Science.

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Tristan Ballard, Eva Sinha, Anna Michalak (2019). Long-term changes in precipitation and temperature have already impacted nitrogen loading. Environmental Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b06898.

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Daniel Swain, Deepti Singh, Daniel Horton, Justin Mankin, Tristan Ballard, Noah Diffenbaugh (2017). Remote Linkages to Anomalous Winter Atmospheric Ridging Over the Northeastern Pacific. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

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Laifang Li, Wenhong Li, Tristan Ballard, Ge Sun, Marc Jeuland (2015). CMIP5 Model Simulations of Ethiopian Kiremt-Season Precipitation: Current Climate and Future Changes. Climate Dynamics.

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Tristan Ballard, Richard Seager, Jason Smerdon, Benjamin Cook, Andrea Ray, Balaji Rajagopalan, Yochanan Kushnir, Jennifer Nakamura, Naomi Henderson (2014). Hydroclimate Variability and Change in the Prairie Pothole Region, the Duck Factory of North America. Earth Interactions.

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