“The Most Interesting Problems” DOCS PhD candidate talks patents, the mesoscale, and what's next

Ask Oceanography & Coastal Sciences PhD candidate Robert Forney about his research and he gives a deceptively simple answer: “I’m happy to work on a lot of different things.”

Forney, who studied with DOCS Associate Professor Paul Miller, currently works at the US Naval Research Laboratory. He recently defended his dissertation, which focused on the ways in which the upper ocean and tropical cyclones impact each other on the mesoscale around the globe. He also has three patents pending, two of which are based on methodologies created while doing his doctoral research.

This very specific line of research areas and achievements came about because of Forney’s wide-ranging interests.  For example, he was drawn to air-sea interactions because the focus allowed him to look at both atmospheric and oceanographic problems.

Not only that, but “I chose to study mesoscale processes because they link the small and large spatial scales and the short and long time scales. Think of anything that links weather and climate for instance. These processes also tend to connect aspects of the environment that we might think of as being separate, like the ocean and atmosphere. Familiarity with the mesoscale, and how it links the extremes in space and time, makes it easy to work on a variety of interesting problems.”

This expansive approach has paid off, not only in his successful defense of his dissertation but in the patents he has pending as a result of the research. One patent he hopes will help improve models for tropical cyclone intensity.  The second is related to detecting, tracking and quantifying certain hard-to-measure features of the ocean, such as mesoscale eddies.

Forney said his research has convinced him of the importance of ocean monitoring, specifically related to tropical cyclones. “When we're thinking about tropical cyclones, we should be thinking about what's going on with the ocean, all the time, not just the atmosphere.”

Overall, he believes greater ocean monitoring is needed. “My research suggests that observed changes in tropical cyclone intensity are linked to increasing environmental support for powerful storms. The relationship between the ocean and intensity change is complex and sometimes the reality can be counterintuitive, like storms observed to form and intensify even under conditions historically considered unfavorable. One of the big things we can do is improve our models but also improve our observation of the ocean.

In keeping with his multi-faceted approach, in addition to his ongoing work with the Naval Research Laboratory, Forney has a start-up company. He plans to offer high quality scientific products to industry in the near future. He is, he says, always interested in meeting fellow scientists who are interested in learning more about bringing technologies to market.

“I think that commercialization of scientific ideas is a great way to make sure that...good things get implemented…Sometimes when you wrap it up in an entity that can commercialize it, it actually gives a greater capability for success because there's an economic engine behind it.”