Professor Henrique de Melo Jorge Barbosa
Associate Professor · Tenured
College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences
He/Him/His/Himself
About
Dr. Barbosa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at UMBC. Before joining UMBC in 2022, he was a faculty member at the University of São Paulo, where he served as Head of the Department of Applied Physics, and held visiting professor positions at the University of Granada and the University of Manchester. He currently serves as the Graduate Program Director for the Atmospheric Physics PhD program. With over 80 peer-reviewed publications—including works in Science, Nature, and PNAS—his research has earned over 5,800 citations. He has served on the International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation, and his work has been recognized with the “Productivity in Research Award” from Brazil’s Science Minister and the 2023 Excellence in Research and Creative Achievement Latinex Award at UMBC.
Research interests
Understanding the interaction of tropical rainforests with the atmosphere on multiple spatial and temporal scales, particularly the effect of deforestation and climate change on the hydrological cycle and the development of clouds, and the feedbacks in the climate system. On the macro scale, this involves looking at how water vapor released by the rainforest is transported thousands of kilometers promoting rain along the way; while on the micro scale, it involves cloud-aerosol interactions and how anthropogenic emissions modify these interactions. To do so, I combine different modeling tools with detailed ground and satellite-based observations of cloud and aerosol.
Teaching interests
I teach both physics and atmospheric physics courses at undergraduate and graduate levels, including but not limited to: Atmospheric Dynamics, Computational Physics, Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere, Modern Physics Laboratory, and Introductory Physics.
Education
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Ph D, Physics
— State University at Campinas (2004) Energy deposit in the atmosphere and the detection of fluorescence light at the Pierre Auger Observatory
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MS, Physics
— State University at Campinas (2000) A study of the detection of fluorescence light in the scope of Auger collaboration
- BS, Physics — State University of Campinas (1997)
Publications
- Pre-launch calibration and validation of the Airborne Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (AirHARP) instrument 2024
Grants and Contracts
- Observation and modeling of the processes driving convective initiation at multiple ARM sites
Courses Taught
- Pre Candidacy Doc Rsch
- Physics Seminar
- Atmos Physics II
- Pre Candidacy Doc Rsch
- Introductory Physics II
- Introductory Physics II
- Pre Candidacy Doc Rsch
- Atmospheric Dynamics
- Lab Physics 4 - Laboratory of E&M and Optics
- Introduction to Atmospheric Physics
- Introduction to Atmospheric Physics (grad)
- Physics 3 - Electricity and Magnetism
- Physics 1 - Mechanics
- Introduction to Atmospheric Physics (grad)
- Physics 1 - Mechanics
- Physics of Air Pollution
- Environmental Physics
- Lab Physics 2 - Laboratory of Thermodynamics and Fluids
- Lab Physics 3 - Laboratory of Electricity and Magnetism (coordinator)
- Modeling of the Global Climate System (grad)
- Lab Physics 4 - Laboratory of E&M and Optics
- Lab Physics 3 - Laboratory of Electricity and Magnetism
- Lab Physics 4 - Laboratory of E&M and Optics
- Lab Physics 3 - Laboratory of Electricity and Magnetism
- Lab Physics 4 - Laboratory of E&M and Optics
- Modeling of the Global Climate System (grad)
- Lab Physics 3 - Laboratory of Electricity and Magnetism
- Lab Physics 4 - Laboratory of E&M and Optics
- Lab Physics 3 - Laboratory of Electricity and Magnetism