Colin J.

McKellar
513 Harvey Dunn #3
mckellarcolin@gmail.com
Brookings, SD 57006
970-576-1319
Education
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
December 2013 Master of Science in Meteorology
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
May 2010
Bachelor of Science in Meteorology and Minor in Mathematics
Work Experience
South Dakota State Climate Office
September
2014 - Current
Assistant State Climatologist
Coordinated with South Dakota Discovery Center in conducting a 6 th
12th grade teacher professional development course offering both the
GLOBE curriculum with a climate science background.
Assisted the state climatologist with data requests and worked with the
SD climate extension specialists on various analyzes such as monthly
climate reports, drought monitoring, and record setting events.
Collaborated with data specialist to update records and commonly used
applications in the climate office and with the state Mesonet director to
help with quality checking station data.
Conducted preliminary analysis of the NLDAS suite of models to quantify
water balance changes in the Midwest and High Plains.
Developed a climate and weather literacy course for primary education
teachers that is usable by both the South Dakota Discovery Center and
the SDSU STEM/4H director.
Aims Community College, Greeley, CO
March
2014 May 2014
Lead instructor of Aviation Meteorology
Provided a positive learning environment for future pilots, air traffic
controllers, and other aviation personnel.
Created visual demonstrations of concepts, facilitate exams, and
prepare assignments and lectures.
Guided students with constructive feedback on their assignments,
exams, and projects.
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
January
2012 - May 2013 Online instructor of Introduction to Weather and Climate
Provided students a general education of basic meteorology concepts.
Conducted online demonstrations and aided students through open
online discussion boards.
Graded exams and homework for the Introduction to Air Pollution course.

Climate Central, Palo Alto, CA

September 2010 December 2011
Graduate Internship
Analyzed and quality checked statistically downscaled climate data and
organized large climate databases (terabyte or more).
Facilitated the principle investigator in the beginning stages of the
CMIP5 climate change downscaling projections for the Institute of Water
Resources.
Collected experimental data to help develop a new method of
statistically downscaling daily temperatures using the diurnal
temperature range.
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
Student Office Assistant, Earth Science Department
August 2008 - May 2010
Maintained the UNC COOP weather observing station and CoCoRaHs
data.
Organized and cataloged UNCs long-term climatology information and
records.
Performed monthly instrument functions of the automatic precipitation
gauge.
Aided in grading the introductory meteorology classes.
Publications

Thrasher, B. L., Maurer, E. P., McKellar, C., and Duffy, P. B.: Technical
Note: Bias correcting climate model simulated daily temperature
extremes with quantile mapping, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 9,
5515-5529, 2012.
McKellar, Colin, "Evaluation of the CMIP5 Decadal Hindcasts in the
State of California" (2013). Master's Theses. Paper 4395.
http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4395

Presentations:
5th Annual CSCAP Meeting, Nebraska City, NE
August 2015
Objective 6 Education Team Outcomes for Year 5.

1st Annual Earth Educators Rendezvous, Boulder, CO

July 2015
Introducing the GLOBE Curriculum to South Dakota's 6th-12th Grade Teachers."
12th Annual Bay Area Climate Symposium, Berkeley, CA
February 2013
Evaluation of the CMIP5 Decadal Hindcasts in the State of California.
American Geophysical Union Conference, San Francisco, CA
December 2011 & 2012
Evaluation of the CMIP5 Decadal Hindcasts in the State of California.
2012

Bias Correction of Simulated Daily Temperatures. 2011

Department of Earth Science, Greeley, CO

May 2010
The Effect of the PDO on the Climate of Seattle, Washington.
Technical Skills
Languages: Fortran, C++, IDL, NCL, R, and Python.
Operating Systems: Linux/Unix, Mac OSX, Windows
Other: MS Office, ArcGIS, NetCDF, GEMPAK, and IDV