Dr. Baker is an expert in cloud physics with decades of experience in cloud physics and airborne, as well as radar, measurements of clouds. He earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics at the University of Washington (UW) graduating with distinction (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1982. Two years later, he entered the graduate program in Geophysics at UW and earned his Ph.D. under Prof. Marcia Baker in 1990. While a graduate student, he participated in his first, of what would become many, cloud physics research field projects, flying on the UW Convair research aircraft with Prof. Peter Hobbs and Art Rangno. The focus of that project was exploring the association of rapid ice formation with the presence of super-cooled large drops in cumulus clouds, an enigma that is central to the research that will be conducted during our 4th cycle field campaign. Dr. Baker published four peer reviewed research articles based on his graduate work, including two on the subject of the aforementioned field project, and a seminal paper on thunderstorm electrification based on laboratory studies performed at the University of Manchester Institute of Technology, where he spent a year collaborating with the cloud physics research group led by Prof. John Latham.

After earning his Ph.D., Dr. Baker was invited to participate in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), furthering his research on turbulence and the microphysical properties of clouds. Following the two-year program at NCAR, Dr. Baker accepted a position as Assistant Professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, where he taught courses in physics and atmospheric science. In 1998, Dr. Baker joined SPEC Incorporated where he directed the company’s participation in several international field campaigns, ranging from investigations of climate change in the Arctic in 1998, to the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) project in the Caribbean Sea in 2004 – 2005. He published four peer reviewed articles related to RICO, including one on the fundamentals of radar measurements and their comparison with aircraft in-situ measurements. In 2012, Dr. Baker returned to teaching, becoming a Lecturer on Radar Meteorology at the University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology until 2016. Dr. Baker returned to working on SPEC projects in 2018, as an independent contractor; transitioning to the position of Senior Scientist at SPEC in 2020. Dr. Baker’s 30 years of experience in cloud physics and airborne measurements of cumulus clouds are valuable assets that will be applied to UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science.