Background
Ashely Curtis joined the IRI in 2008, after completing her masters degree in Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University. Her masters thesis investigated neural network modeling methods for describing animal species distributions. Ashley previously worked at Columbia University's Tree-Ring Laboratory, where she collected, processed, and analyzed tree-ring data used to understand past climate and environmental history. She also worked with a wildlife conservation group in the Philippines for several years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Ashley earned her bachelors degree in Biology from Bard College.
Role at the IRI
At IRI, Ashley coordinates the Climate Program and contributes to research, education, and outreach efforts. She is also actively involved with IRI’s partnership with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Staffing the IFRC Helpdesk at IRI , Ashley communicates and contextualizes climate and forecast information that humanitarian decision makers can then use to improve preparedness for weather and climate related disasters.
Publications and Presentations
Davi, N.K., G.C. Jacoby, R.D. D'Arrigo, N. Baatarbileg, J. Li, and A.E. Curtis. 2009. A tree-ring-based drought index reconstruction for far-western Mongolia: 1565-2004. International Journal of Climatology. 29:10, 1508-1514.
Solomina, O., I. Pavlova, A. Curtis, G. Jacoby, V. Ponomareva, and M. Pevzner. 2008. Constraining recent Shiveluch volcano eruptions (Kamchatka, Russia) by means of dendrochronology. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 8: 1083-1097,
Curtis, A., J. Rogan, and J.A. Miller. 2008. Evaluating Pseudo-absence Generation Methods in Species Distribution Models. April 18, 2008. Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Special Session: Species Distribution Modeling. April 15-19, Boston, MA.
Cheng, Z., B.M. Buckley, B. Katz, W. Wright, R. Bailey, K.T. Smith, J. Li, A. Curtis, A. van Green. 2007. Arsenic in tree rings at a highly contaminated site. Science of The Total Environment. 376:3, 324-334.
D'Arrigo, R., R. Wilson, J. Palmer, P. Krusic, A. Curtis, J. Sakulich, S. Bijaksana, S. Zulaikah, and L. O. Ngkoimani. 2006. Monsoon drought over Java, Indonesia, during the past two centuries. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L04709, doi:10.1029/2005GL025465.
D’Arrigo, R., R. Wilson, J. Palmer, P. Krusic, A. Curtis, J. Sakulich, S. Bijaksana, S. Zulaikah, L.O. Ngkoimani and A. Tudhope. 2006. The reconstructed Indonesian Warm Pool SSTs from Tree Rings and Corals: Linkages to Asian Monsoon Drought and ENSO. Paleoceanography. 21:3, PA3005.
Curtis, A. and G. Jacoby. 2006. Is there solar influence on Mongolian precipitation? June 12, 2006. 7th International Conference of Dendrochronology. June 11-17, Beijing, China.
Davi, N.K., G.C. Jacoby, A. Curtis, and B. Nachin. 2006. Extension of Drought Records for Central Asia Using Tree Rings: West-Central Mongolia. Journal of Climate, 19: 288-299.
