Rate My Professor Todd Lane

Professor Todd Lane serves as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne and as a Professor of Atmospheric Science within the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He obtained his PhD in Applied Mathematics from Monash University in 2000, following the completion of his bachelor's degree there in 1997. After his PhD, Lane was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the United States from 2000 to 2002, subsequently advancing to staff scientist at NCAR from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, he joined the University of Melbourne, where he progressed to full Professor and has held positions including Head of the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow from 2010 to 2014 and is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather.

Lane is renowned internationally for his work on tropical thunderstorms, atmospheric gravity waves, and turbulence. His research encompasses mesoscale meteorology, dynamics of convective clouds, and the application of high-resolution atmospheric models to investigate weather-climate interactions and extreme events, including bushfire meteorology, heavy rainfall, and fire weather. Notable publications include "Numerical modeling of gravity wave generation by deep tropical convection" (Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 2001), "An investigation of turbulence generation mechanisms above deep convection" (Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 2003), "Sources and dynamics of turbulence in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere: A review" (Geophysical Research Letters, 2012), "Recent advances in the understanding of near-cloud turbulence" (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2012), and the edited volume "Aviation Turbulence: Processes, Detection, Prediction" (Springer, 2016). Lane has received prestigious awards from the American Meteorological Society, the Australian Academy of Science, and NASA. He is a Fellow of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and has served as its President (2014-2015), Chair of the American Meteorological Society's Committee on Mesoscale Processes (2012-2015), and Editor for Monthly Weather Review (2016-2018).