
Dr. Menas Kafatos
- Scholarly Works:
- Digital Commons
- Education:
- Cornell University, Bachelor of Arts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D.
Biography
Dr. Menas C. Kafatos is The Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics at Chapman University & Director of Institute for Earth, Computing, Human and Observing (Institute for ECHO). Author, physicist, philosopher, works on the environment, climate change and its effects; in natural hazards, including wildfires, pollution, storms, droughts; expert on quantum mechanics, cosmology, measurement and the role of the mind. He is one of few geo scientists who has worked on both Earth and space/astronomy, as well as data information systems for both Earth and space science. He works extensively and leads projects in all areas of hazards: Wildfires; droughts; dust transport; hurricane modeling; as well as impacts of climate change on agriculture and natural ecosystems. Climate related research, including seasonal to inter annual variability and effects on vegetation; climate change impacts on agriculture; connection of climate, possible impacts on hurricanes, dust storms and wildfires.
He received his B.A. in Physics from Cornell University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. After postdoctoral work at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, he joined George Mason University and was University Professor of Interdisciplinary Sciences from 1984-2008, where he also served as Dean of the School of Computational Sciences and Director of the Center for Earth Observing and Space Research. He and a team of computational scientists joined Chapman University in fall, 2008. He is the Founding Dean of the Schmid College of Science and Technology at Chapman University, serving as dean in 2009- 2012. He directs the Institute for Earth, Computing, Human and Observing. He has more than 45 years of experience in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. He has published numerous books, and more than 340 articles in computational science, astrophysics, Earth systems science, hazards and global climate change, regional impacts of climate change, environmental issues, general relativity, cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and consciousness, many in high impact journals and top reputation journals such as two in each, Nature and Scientific American. Research Gate in its database lists 445+ publications under his name with RG Score: 43.17; h-index: 52. Refereed Publications: 349 (listed here) which include refereed journal articles, refereed book chapters, and refereed published proceedings. Books: 23.Citations: 9,821+ (Research Gate, 2021). Highest Citation of single article: 500.
He is recipient of the Rustum Roy Award from the Chopra Foundation, February 2011, which “honors individuals whose devotion and commitment to their passion for finding answers in their field is matched only by their commitment to humanity”; an honorary member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences; Member, Board of Trustees, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), 2006-2008; Member, OCTANe Board, 2010-2013; Member, American Hellenic Council, 2011-present; President, 2014-2018; President, Friends of Sivananda Ashram Yoga in the Caribbean, 2020- present; IEEE Orange County Chapter - Outstanding Leadership and Professional Service Award, October, 2011, etc. He has been interviewed numerous times by: U.S. national TV networks (ABC, KCBS, Voice of America), Korean and Greek TV networks (KBS1 in Korea; ERT, SKAI-Eco, in Greece; PIT in Cyprus; TV and radio stations in Crete, cretalive, tv CRETA, Krete tv), national and regional newspapers and radios in Korea, (Hankook), Greece (Kathimerini, Eleutherotypia, Ethnos, Patris), and the United States (National Herald, OC Register, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal, Korea Times).
Teaching:
REL 329 Quantum Physics, Cosmology, & Consciousness
HGEC 540 Global Climate Change
Research Interests:
Interdisciplinary Earth system science
Natural hazards and climate change
Aerosols and pollution
Vegetation and climate change coupling
Tropical cyclones
Distributed data information system architecture
Content-based Earth science data browsing
Black holes, active galaxies and quasars
Cosmological redshifts
Foundations of quantum theory
Quantum theory and brain dynamics
Funding:
USDA 58-3148-7-044
EU FP6 CIRCE
NASA NNX06AF30G
Employment:
September 2012 – Present: Director, Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling & Observations
2009 – 2012: Dean, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University
2008 – 2012: Vice Chancellor for Special Projects, Chapman University
2008 – Present: Director, Center of Excellence in Applied, Computational and Fundamental Science, Chapman University
2008 – Present: Professor, Dept. of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering, Chapman University
Honors/Awards:
Recipient of the Spirit of Rustum Roy Award, Chopra Foundation, February 26, 2011: honors individuals whose devotion and commitment to their passion for finding answers in their field is matched only by their commitment to humanity.
IEEE Orange County Chapter - Outstanding Leadership and Professional Service Award, October, 2011.
Memberships:
National Academy of Sciences' US National Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) – past, 2000-2003; International Astronomical Union (IAU), on-going
America Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); American Astronomical Society (AAS); American Geophysical Union (AGU); American Physical Society (APS); Hellenic Astronomical Society; Royal Astronomical Society (RAS); IEEE Computer Society, on-going.
Member, OCTANe Board, 2010-present
Member, Board of Trustees, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), 2006-2008
Science Steering Committee, Sand & Dust Storms-Warning and Assessment System, sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization, etc., 2005-present
American Astronautical Society, Vice President for Education, 2001-2003
Honorary member, Romanian Academy of Sciences, 2000
Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (member of its Executive Committee); and Chair of its Partnership Committee (responsible for new ESIP members), 1999-2001
Websites/Past Events:
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Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications
- Karastathis V.K., Eleftheriou G., Kafatos M.C., Tsinganos K., Tselentis G. A., Mouzakiotis E. and Ouzounov D. (2022) Observations on the Stress Related Variations of Soil Radon Concentration in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. Scientific Reports, 12(1), p.5442 nature.com.
- Jia, S., Nghiem, S.V., Kim, S.H., Krauser, L., Gaughan, A.E., Stevens, F.R., Kafatos, M.C., Ngo, K.D. Extreme Development of Dragon Fruit Agriculture with Nighttime Lighting in Southern Vietnam. In: Vadrevu, K.P., Le Toan, T., Ray, S.S., Justice, C. (eds) Remote Sensing of Agriculture and Land Cover/Land Use Changes in South and Southeast Asian Countries. Springer, Cham.
- Kak, S., Kafatos M.C. Black Holes, Disk Structures & Cosmological Implications in e-Dimensional Space. Physics Essays, 35(4). (December 2022).
- Wang, Y. (V.), Kim, S.H., Lyu, G., Lee, C.L., Lee, G., Min, K.H., Kafatos M.C. (2023) Relative Importance of Radar Variables for Nowcasting Heavy Rainfall: A Machine Learning Approach, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGRS) 61, 1-14, 4100314. This transactions publication is for year 2023
- Francis M. Fujioka, D.R. Weise, S-C. Chen, Seung Hee Kim, Menas C. Kafatos. Reaction Intensity Partitioning: A New Perspective of Fire Danger. International Journal of Wildland Fire 30, 351-364
- Dimitar Ouzounov, Sergei Pulinets, D. Davidenko, A. Rozhnoi, V. Solovieva, B. Fedun, N. Dwivedi, A. Rybin, Menas C. Kafatos, Patrick Taylor. Transient effects in atmosphere and ionosphere preceding the 2015 M7.8 and M7.3 Gorkha-Nepal earthquakes, Frontiers in Earth Science, Environmental Informatics and Remote Sensing 9:757358.doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.757358
- Shenyue Jia, Seung Hee Kim, Son V. Nghiem, Keun-Hang Yang, Menas C. Kafatos. Investigating the Lagged Relationship between SMAP Soil Moisture and Live Fuel Moisture in California, USA. In IGARSS 2020-2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 4485-4488
- Mijin Kim, Seung Hee Kim, Woogyung Vincent Kim, Yun Gon Lee, Jhoon Kim, and Menas C. Kafatos: Assessment of Aerosol Optical Depth Under Background and Polluted Conditions Using AERONET and VIIRS Datasets. Atmots. Environ. (accepted with minor revision).
- 4. Ouzounov D. S.Pulinets, K.Sun, X.Shen, M. Kafatos Atmosphere Response to Pre-Earthquake Processes Revealed by Satellite and Ground Observations. Case Study for Xinjiang, China (2008-2014), Annals of Geophysics. (accepted).
- Shenyue Jia, Seung Hee Kim, Son V. Nghiem, Menas Kafatos. Live fuel moisture estimation using SMAP soil moisture and MODIS vegetation indices in Southern California, USA. IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 6126-6129.
- Myoung, B., Kim, S.H., Nghiem, S.V., Jia, S., Whitney, K., Kafatos, M.C. Estimating Live Fuel Moisture from MODIS Satellite Data for Wildfire Danger Assessment in Southern California USA. Remote Sens. 10, 87. doi:10.3390/rs10010087
- S. Jia, S. H. Kim, S. V. Nghiem, W. Cho, Kafatos, M.C., Estimating Live Fuel Moisture in Southern California Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Water Content Proxies, 2018 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, p. 5587-5890
- Kim, S.H., Kafatos, M.C. R&S project report Diagnosis and improvement of hydrologic cycle in long-term prediction system Applications of Sub-seasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Predictions on Agricultural Sector, Korea Meteorological Administration, Seoul Korea
- Galanis, G., Kafatos, M.C., Chu, P.C., Hatzopoulos, N., Papageorgiou, E., Liakatas, A. Operational atmospheric and wave modeling in the California’s coastline and offshore area with application to wave energy monitoring and assessment, Journal of Operational Oceanography
- Kafatos, M.C., Kim, S.H., Lim, C-H., Kim, J., Lee, W-K. Responses of Agro-ecosystems to Climate Change: Specifics of Resilience in the Mid-Latitude Regions, Sustainability, 9:1361. (doi:10.3390/su9081361)
- Kafatos, M.C., Kato, G. C. Sheaf theoretic formulation for consciousness and qualia and relationship to the idealism of non-dual philosophies, in Simeonov, P.L., Gare, A., Matsuno, K., Igamberdiev, A., Hankey, A. (Eds.). The Necessary Conjunction of The Western and Eastern Thought Traditions for Exploring the Nature of Mind and Life. Special Theme Issue Integral Biomathics. Prog. Biophy. Mol. Biol. 131 C. Elsevier, ISSN: 00796107, 242-250
- Lim, C-H., Kim, S.H., Choi, Y., Kafatos, M.C., Lee, W-K., Estimation of Virtual Water Contents of Main Crops using Multiple RCMs and Evapotranspiration Methodsmethods in Korean Peninsula, Sustainability, MDPI, 9:1172. (doi:10.3390/su9071172)
- Kafatos, M.C., Kim, S.H., Lim, C-H., Kim, J., Lee, W-K., Responses of Agro-ecosystems to Climate Change: 2 Specifics of Resilience in the Mid-Latitude Regions (in press)
- Kafatos, M.C., The Living Presence is the Antidote to Fear, Anastamos Interdisciplinary Journal, Fear, Alison Williams (edit.), 1: 50-58
- Myoung, B., Kim S.H., Kim, J., Kafatos, M., (2017) Regional Variations of Optimal Sowing Dates of Maize for the Southwestern U.S. ,Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, 59(6): 1759-1769. (doi: 10.13031/trans.59.11583)
- Kim S.H., Myoung, B., Stack, D.H., Kim, J., Kafatos, M.C., (2017) Sensitivity of Maize Yield Potential to Regional Climate in Southwestern United States, Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, 59(6): 1745-1757. (doi 10.13031/trans.5911584)
- Chopra, D., Kafatos, M.C. You Are the Universe Penguin, Harmony, Random House: New York. NYT Bestseller
- Kafatos, M.C. Living the Living Presence (in Greek) Melissa Publishers: Athens
- Kafatos, M.C. Living the Living Presence (in Korean) Miruksa Press: Seoul, Korea)
- Narasimhan, A., Kafatos, M.C., (2016) Wave Particle Duality, the Observer and Retrocausality, Quantum Retrocausation III, (edit Daniel P. Sheehan) AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1841: 040004-1, 9 pages
- Theise, N.D., Kafatos, M.C. (2016) Fundamental Awareness: A Framework for Integrating Science, Philosophy and Metaphysics Communicative & Integrative Biology 9(3):00-00
- Sarafoglou, N., Kafatos, M.C., Sprigg, W.A. (2016) Migration, Environment and Public Health: Theory and Interdisciplinary Research from a Regional Science Perspective International Journal of Social Science Studies 4(4)
- Kafatos, M.C., Keun Hang Yang (2016) The Quantum Universe: the Philosophical Foundations and Oriental Medicine, Integrative Medicine Research, 5: 237-243 (Elsevier)
- Lee, E.J., Lee, W-K., Lamchin, M., Piao, D., Song, C., Jeon, S.W., Kim, E. Moon, Kafatos, M.C. (2016) Assessing Environmentally Sensitive Land to Desertification using MEDALUS method in Mongolia, Advances in Space Research (In Process)
- Park, S., El-Askary, H., Sabbah, I., Kwak, H., Prasad A., Lee, W.K., Kafatos, M.C. (2015) Studying Air Pollutants Origin and Associated Meteorological Parameters over Seoul from 2000 to 2009 Advances in Meteorology 2015(2):1-12 DOI: 10.1155/2015/704178
- Park, S K., El-Askary, H., Ahn M-H., Prasad A., Kafatos, M.C. (2015) On the Detection and Monitoring of the Transport of an Asian Dust Storm Using Multi-Sensor Satellite Remote Sensing Journal of Environmental Informatics 25(2):99-116 DOI: 10.3808/jei.201500306
- Medvigy, D., Kim, S.H., Kim, J., Kafatos, M.C. (2015) Dynamically downscaling predictions for deciduous tree leaf emergence in California under current and future climate International Journal of Biometeorology 60(7) DOI: 10.1007/ 00484 015-1086-7
- Kim, S.H., Kim J., Walko, R., Myoung, B., Stack, D., Kafatos, M.C. (2015). Climate Change Impacts on Maize-yield Potential in the Southwestern United States Procedia Environmental Sciences 12/2015; 29:279-280. DOI: 10.1016/j.proenv.2015.07.210
- Kafatos, M.C., Chevalier, G., Chopra, D., Hubacher, J.J., Kak, S.,Theise, N.D. (2015). Biofield: Current Physics Perspectives, Global Advances in Health and Medicine, in press.
- Kafatos, M.C. (2015). Meditation: If You’re Doing It, You’re Doing It Right, Alisson Tinsley and Chris Fields, Edit., Meditation is the effortless stilling of the mind: It is being with yourself, 153-158
- Kim, S.R., Prasad, A. K., El-Askary, H., Lee, W.K., Kwak, D.A., Lee, S.H, Kafatos, M., (2014) Application of the Savitzky-Golay Filter to Land Cover Classification Using Temporal MODIS Vegetation Indices, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 80(7):675-685
- Chopra, D., Kafatos, M.C. (2014) From Quanta to Qualia: How a Paradigm Shift Turns Into Science. Philosophy Study Vol. 4, Number 4, pp. 287-301.
- Kafatos, M.C. (2014) The Conscious Universe, in “Brain, Mind, Cosmos: The Nature of Our Existence and the Universe”, D. Chopra (edit), eBook, Amazon.
- Chopra, D., Kafatos, M.C., Tanzi, R.E. (2014) A Consciousness-based Science: From Quanta to Qualia, in “Brain, Mind, Cosmos: The Nature of Our Existence and the Universe”, D. Chopra (edit), eBook, Amazon
- El-Askary, H., et al., Kafatos, M., (2013) Annual Patterns of Atmospheric Pollutions and Episodes over Cairo Egypt, Advances in Meteorology, Article ID 984853, 11 pages. doi:10.1155/2013/984853.
- Grandpierre, A., Chopra, D., Doraiswamy, P. Murali, Tanzi, R., Kafatos, M.C. (2013) A Multidisciplinary Approach to Mind and Consciousness. NeuroQuantology Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 607-617.
- Theise, ND, Kafatos, M. (2013) Complementarity in biological systems: a complexity view. Complexity Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 11-20 2013.
- El-Askary, H,. Park, S K., Ahn M-H., Prasad A., Kafatos, M. (2013) On the Detection and Monitoring of the Transport of an Asian Dust Storm Using Multi-sensor Satellite Remote Sensing in Elsevier Editorial System(tm) for Environment International Manuscript Draft (Research Paper)
- Sarafoglou, N., and Kafatos, M. (2013) Energy Production, Conversion, Transmission, and Distribution, Policy, Planning, and Mitigation Process-General Considerations: Infrastructure and Vilnerability Caused by Climate/00316, in “Climate Variability, 1st Edition: Understanding and Addressing Threats to Essential Resources”, R. A. Pielke, Sr. (edit. In chief), Elsevier, ISBN: 9780123847034
- Sarafoglou, N., Kafatos, M., and Beall, J.H. (2012), Simultaneity in the Scientific Enterprise, Studies in Sociology of Science, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 20-30, CS Canada, ISSN 1923-0184
- Grandpierre, A., Kafatos, M. (2013) Genuine Biological Autonomy: How can the Spooky Finger of Mind Play on the Physical Keyboard of the Brain? Chapter 9, “An Anthology of Philosophical Studies”Vol. 7, P. Hanna (edit.), Athens Institute for Education and Research 2013, pp. 83-98
- Jaswal, A. K., Kumar, N., Prasad, A. K., Kafatos, M., (2013) Decline in horizontal surface visibility over India (1961–2008) and its association with meteorological variables, Natural Hazards DOI 10.1007/s11069-013-0666-2
- Theise, N. D., Kafatos, M. (2013) Sentience Everywhere: Complexity Theory, Panpsychism & the Role of Sentience in Self-Organization of the Universe, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, Volume 4, Issue 4, pp. 378-390.
- Ouzounov, D., Pulinets, S., Romanov, A., Romanov, A., Tsybulya, K., Davidenko, D., Kafatos, M., Taylor, P. (2011) Atmosphere-ionosphere response to the M9 Tohoku earthquake revealed by multi-instrument space-borne and ground observations: Preliminary results, Earthquake Science, Vol 24, No. 6, pp 557-564, doi: 10.1007/s11589-011-0817-z
- Roy, S., Roy, M., and Kafatos, M., (2012) Dynamic Multiple Scattering, frequency shift and possible effects on quasars astronomy, Journal of Computational Methods in Science and Engineering 00, pp.1-23 IOS Press, DOI 10.3233/JCM-120462
- El-Askary, H., Allali, M., Rakovski, C., Prasad, A., Kafatos, M., and Struppa, D. (2012), Computational methods for climate data, WIREs Comput Stat 2012. Doi: 10.1002/wics.1213, Wiley Periodicals (Book Chapter)
- Grandpierre, A., Kafatos, M. (2012) Biological Autonomy, Philosophy Study, Volume 2, Number 9, pp. 631-649.
- Ma, Y., Kafatos, M., and Davidson, N.E. (2012) Surface pressure profiles, vortex structure and initialization for hurricane prediction. Part I: analysis of observed and synthetic structures, Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., Vol 117:5-23, DOI 10.1007/s00703-012-0190-z.
- Prasad, A., Singh, R.P., Kafatos M. (2012) Influence of coal-based thermal power plants on the spatial-temporal variability of tropospheric NO2 column over India, Environ. Monit. Assess., Vol 184:1891-1907, doi:10.1007/10661-011-2087-6
- Ouzounov, D., Pulinets, S., Hattori, K., Kafatos, M., Taylor, P. (2012) Atmospheric Signals Associated with Major Earthquakes. A Multi-Sensor Approach, in "The Frontier of Earthquake Prediction Studies" Ed. M. Hayakawa, Nihon-senmontosho-Shuppan, Tokyo, 510-531, 2012
- Kaskaoutis, D.G., Prasad, A.K., Kosmopoulos, P.G., Sinha, P.R., Kharol, S.K., Gupta, P., El-Askary, H.M., and Kafatos, M. (2012) Synergistic use of remote sensing and modeling for tracing
- El-Askary, H., Prasad, A.K., Kallos, G., El-Raey, M., Kafatos, M. (2011) Analyzing Black Cloud Dynamics over Cairo, Nile Delta Region and Alexandria using Aerosols and Water Vapor Data, “Air Quality-Models and Applications”, Nicolas Mazzeo (edit.), InTech Publishing, Croatia, (ISBN: 978-953-307-307-1)
- Kafatos, M., Nassikas, A.A. (2011) Retro-causation, Minimum Contradictions and Non-locality, in “Quantum Retrocausation: Theory and Experiment”, 13–14 June 2011, San Diego, California AIP Conf. Proc. 1408, D. Sheehan (edit.), pp. 291-296; doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3663730
- Prasad, A.K., El-Askary, H.M., Asrar, G.R., Kafatos, M., Jaswal, A. (2011) Melting of Major Glaciers in Himalayas: Role of Desert Dust and Anthropogenic Aerosols, “Planet Earth 2011 - Global Warming Challenges and Opportunities for Policy and Practice”, Elias G. Carayannis (edit.), InTech Publishing (ISBN: 978-953-307-733-8) (Book Chapter)
- Ouzounov, D., Pulinets, S., Hattori, K., Kafatos, M., Taylor, P. (2011) Atmospheric Signals Associated with Major Earthquakes: A Multi-Sensor Approach, in “Frontier of Earthquake Short-term Prediction Study”, Hayakawa, M. (edit.), NSTSS, Japan.
- Kafatos M. (2011) The Science of Wholeness, in “Analecta Husserliana”, T. Tymieniecka, A. Grandpierre (edit.), Springer Science, Business Media, B.V.
- Singh, R.P., Kumar, J.S., Zlotnicki, J., Kafatos, M. (2010) Satellite Detection of carbon monoxide emission prior to the Gujarat earthquake of 26 January 2001, J. Applied Geochemistry 25, pp. 580-585
- Kwak, D.A., Chung, J., Lee, W.K., Kafatos, M., Lee, S.Y., Cho, H.K., Lee, S.H. (2010) Evaluation for Damaged Degree of Vegetation by Forest Fire using LiDAR and Digital Aerial Photograph, (PE&RS) Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing Vol. 76, No.3, pp. 277-287
- Kwak, D.A., Lee, W.K., Kafatos, M., Son, Y., Cho, H.K., Lee, S.H. (2010) Estimation of effective plant area index for South Korean forests using LiDAR system, Science China, Life Sciences Vol. 53, No. 7: 898-908, doi: 10.1007/s11427-010-4019-z
- Kwak, D.A., Lee, W.K., Cho, H.K., Lee, S.H., Son, Y., Kafatos, M., Kim, S.R. (2010) Estimating stem volume and biomass of Pinus Koraiensis using LiDAR data, JPR Symposium, J Plant Res doi: 10.1007/s 10265-010-0310-0
- Prasad, A.K., El-Askary, H., Kafatos, M. (2010) Implications of high altitude desert dust transport from Western Sahara to Nile delta during biomass burning season, Environmental Pollution Vol. 158, pp. 3385-3391
- Kafatos, M., Ouzounov, D., Pulinets, S., Hattori, K., Liu, Jy., Parrot, M., Taylor, P. (2010) Multi Sensor Approach of Validating Atmospheric Signals Associated with Major Earthquakes. EGU General Assembly , p.14184
- Draganescu, M., Roy, S., Kafatos, M., (2010) Effective Theories And The Phenomenological Information **
- Singh RP, Mehdi W, Gautam R, Senthil Kumar J, Zlotnicki J, and Kafatos M. (2010) Precursory signals using satellite and ground data associated with the Wenchuan Earthquake of 12 May 2008, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol 31(13) pp. 3341-3354.