My research focuses broadly on applications of computational physics and artificial intelligence to facilitate positive outcomes of technological innovation, while simultaneously anticipating and mitigating potential threats posed by those same technologies.

 I am investigating the use of machine learning and deep learning techniques in the areas of climate, weather and multiscale physics. Numerical models produce enormous quantities of data, which is challenging to analyze. Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve this situation by automatically detecting important phenomena and identifying non-intuitive correlations among variables. Also, neural network process emulation has the potential to produce enormous increases in model throughput, which in turn will enable simulations of greater detail and accuracy.

Over the previous decade, much of my time has been spent developing and improving global Earth-system models in order to address issues caused by anthropogenic climate change. Changes to Earth’s environment, created as an unintended consequence of modern technology, have the potential to adversely impact our quality of life in the coming decades through a higher incidence of extreme weather, reduced species diversity, sea-level rise, and challenges to food and water security.  Due to the complexity of the Earth system, numerical models provide the only plausible mechanism for studying the impacts of various climate scenarios. The accuracy of those projections, in turn, depend upon the accuracy and speed of the models.

I received my PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California Santa Barabara in 2007, after which I worked in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in industry, as a postdoc, and as a Project Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). I joined the Computer Science Department at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2012 where I currently work as an Assistant Research Professor.

Contact Information

david.hall @ colorado.edu
ECOT 527
1045 Regent Drive, 430 UCB
Boulder CO, 80309‐0430 USA

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