Education
Ph.D. , Earth and Space Sciences
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Ph.D. advisor: Eric Steig
2017 - 2023
B.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Honors Program, Cooperative education program
Research advisor: Kim Cobb, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
2012 - 2017
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Ph.D. advisor: Eric Steig
2017 - 2023
B.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Honors Program, Cooperative education program
Research advisor: Kim Cobb, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
2012 - 2017
Publications
14.
13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. |
O’Connor, G.K., Nakayama, Y., Steig, E.J., Armour, K.C., Thompson, L., Hyogo, S., Berdahl, M., Shimada, T. West Antarctic glacier retreat triggered by polynya response to meridional winds. In review at Nature Geoscience.
Schneider, D.P., Yin, Z., O’Connor, G.K., Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E., Cast, Z. I., Datta, R., Espinosa, Z. Increased Antarctic snowfall mitigates sea level rise less than projected due to meltwater influence on sea surface temperature. In review at PNAS. https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.172411232.25724214/v2 Dalaiden, Q., Abram, N.J., Goosse, H., Holland, P.R., O’Connor, G.K., Topal, D. (2024). Tropical and anthropogenic drivers shape multi-decadal atmospheric circulation variability over West Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 51(16), e2024GL109137, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109137. Fogt, R.L., Dalaiden, Q., O’Connor, G.K. (2024). A comparison of South Pacific Antarctic sea ice and atmospheric circulation reconstructions since 1900. Climate of the Past, 20(1), 53-76. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-53-2024 O’Connor, G.K., Holland, P.R., Steig, E.J., Dutrieux, P., Hakim, G.J. (2023). Characteristics and rarity of the strong 1940s westerly wind event over the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica. The Cryosphere, 17(10), 4399-4420. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4399-2023 Stevenson, S., Cobb, K.M., Merrifield, M., Powell, B., Sanchez, S., Nusbaumer, J., O’Connor, G.K., Atwood, A. (2023). Contrasting central equatorial Pacific oxygen isotopic signatures of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 El Nino events. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(21), e2023GL104454. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104454 Hoffman, A.O., Holschuh, N., Mueller, M., Paden, J., Muto, A., Ariho, G., Brigham, C., Christian, J., Davidge, L., Heitmann, E., Hills, B., Horlings, A., Morey, S., O’Connor, G.K., Fudge, T.J., Steig, E. J., Christianson, K. (2023) Scars of tectonism promote ice-sheet nucleation from Hercules Dome into West Antarctica. Nature Geoscience, 16, 1005-1013. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01265-5 Holland, P. R., O'Connor, G. K., Bracegirdle, T. J., Dutrieux, P., Naughten, K. A., Steig, E. J., Schneider, D. P., Jenkins, A., Smith, J. A. Anthropogenic and internal drivers of wind changes over the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, during the 20th and 21st centuries. (2022). The Cryosphere, 16, 5085–5105, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5085-2022. Fudge, T.J., Hills, B., Horlings, A.N., Holschuh, N., Christian, J.E., Davidge, L., Hoffman, A., O’Connor, G.K., Christianson, K., Steig, E.J. A site for deep ice coring at West Hercules Dome: Results from ground-based geophysics and modeling. (2022). Journal of Glaciology, 1-13, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.80. Hills, B.H., Christianson, K., Hoffman, A., Fudge, T.J., Holschuh, N., Kahle, E.C., Conway, H., Christian, J., Horlings, A., O’Connor, G.K., Steig, E.J. Geophysics and thermodynamics at South Pole Lake indicate stability and a regionally thawed bed. (2022). Geophysical Research Letters, 49, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096218. Hitt, N.T., Sayani, H.R., Atwood, A.R., Grothe, P.R., Maupin, C., O’Connor, G.K., Walter, R., Gebregiorgis, D., Hardt, M., Lu, Y., Edwards, R.L., Cheng, H., Cobb, K.M. Central equatorial Pacific warming and freshening in the 20th century: Insights from a coral ensemble approach. (2022). Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL094051. doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094051 O’Connor, G.K., Steig, E.J., Hakim, G.J. Strengthening Southern Hemisphere westerlies and Amundsen Sea Low deepening over the 20th century revealed by proxy-data assimilation. (2021). Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL095999. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095999 O’Connor, G.K., Cobb, K.M., Sayani, H.R., Atwood, A.R., Grothe, P.R., Stevenson, S., Baum, J., Chen, T., Claar, C., Hitt, N., Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Mortlock, R., Schmidt, G., Walter, R. Coral oxygen isotopic records capture the 2015/16 El Niño event in the central equatorial Pacific. (2021). Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL094036. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094036 Grothe, P. R., Cobb, K. M., Liguori, G., Di Lorenzo, E., Capotondi, A., Lu, Y., Cheng, H., Edwards, R. L., Southon, J. R., Santos, G. M., Deocampo, D. M., Lynch-Stieglitz, J., Chen, T., Sayani, H. R., Thompson, D. M., Conroy, J. L., Moore, A. L., Townsend, K., Hagos, M., O’Connor, G., Toth, L. T. (2019). Enhanced El Niño–Southern Oscillation Variability in Recent Decades. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(7). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083906 |
Awards
2023 - 2026
2023 - 2025 2024 2023 2022 2022 2017 - 2021 2017 - 2021 2021 2021 2021 2019 2017 2017 2012 - 2017 2012 |
Washington Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
NSF OPP EAGER Award - Ocean Circulation in the Amundsen Sea Embayment over the 20th Century UW Data Science Postdoctoral Research Award UW Data Science Postdoctoral Fellowship David A. Johnston Award for Research Excellence Robert G. and Nadine E. Bassett Endowed Fund NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Fellowship Boeing International Research Fellowship UW Earth and Space Sciences Research Gala Award for inaugural DEI talk UW Earth and Space Sciences Peter Misch Fellowship Best Student Talk, West Antarctic Ice Sheet Workshop UW Top Scholar Award Georgia Tech President's Undergraduate Research Salary Award Zell Miller Scholarship (100% tuition covered) NSF Mentoring through Critical Transition Points (MCTP) Mathematics Scholarship |
Teaching Experience
Fall 2020 ESS 431/505 Principles of Glaciology
Teaching assistant (shared appointment) and guest lecturer
Spring 2020 ESS 102 Space and Space Travel
Teaching assistant
2013 - 2015 Yoga instructor and instructor trainer
Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center
Teaching assistant (shared appointment) and guest lecturer
Spring 2020 ESS 102 Space and Space Travel
Teaching assistant
2013 - 2015 Yoga instructor and instructor trainer
Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center
Leadership and Service
2022
2019 - 2021 2020 - 2021 2021 2018 2018 |
Reviewer: Nature Communications, Nature Communications Earth and Environment, & Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Earth and Space Sciences DEI Committee graduate representative College of the Environment peer mentor Undergraduate research mentor Project: Geothermal flux constraints at Hercules Dome, Antarctica Cryosphere session chair, Graduate Climate Conference 2018 Planning committee member, Graduate Climate Conference 2018 |