I am a physicist who studies climate. I help piece together the climate puzzle so that as people alter the Earth, intentionally or not, we better understand the likely outcomes. Rapidly changing parts of our planet fascinate me most---melting snow, blowing dust, and burning forests. Fast processes often indicate pressure points to which Earth is very sensitive. Recently we discovered that nothing heats the planet faster than pollution landing on snow and making it darker. This has helped spur the policy shift to reduce soot emissions. My current research includes desert dust and fire-emitted soot particulates, snowpack lifecycle and reflectance, wind-dispersal of nutrients and pathogens, wind-drag effects on deserts and oceans,and large-scale data analysis.