Nichole Ruiz

Nichole is a senior at Columbia University studying Computational Biology. Hailing from Miami, FL, Nichole is passionate about oceanography and is interested in aerosol impacts on ocean biology, air-sea fluxes, and satellite ocean optics. Over the summer, she analyzed aerosols from the January 2025 Los Angeles fires at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UCSD, using remote sensing and plankton tow samples. She is doing her senior thesis with the Commane lab, where she is investigating smoke plume transport and ash deposition pathways following the L.A. fires.