About me

Hi! I am Juliana Mejía Sepúlveda, a Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona, working with Dr. Sylvia Sullivan.

I grew up in Medellín, Colombia, a city located in the Andean Mountains, where my first research interests arose from observing air quality degradation due to incoming polluted plumes transported from the Llanos Orientales (Eastern Plains) savannas. Every year during the dry season, this ecosystem emits high levels of particulate matter which, combined with local pollution sources within the city, create a highly contaminated environment.

My first hands-on experience with air quality research occurred in 2015, when I was an undergraduate student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Antioquia. This experience motivated me to join a research project focused on the tolerance and sensitivity of trees to air pollution, and later, in 2019, to pursue an M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering.

Since then, my research interests have continued to grow and expand into atmospheric chemistry, meteorological drivers of polluted events, and cloud chemistry.

Currently, I am studying how climatological extreme events like warm and dry conditions are affecting frequency and duration of aerosol extreme events (AEEs) in the U.S. Southwest, integrating reanalysis data combined with satellite and ground-based observations, using clustering analysis called Self-Organizing Maps.

Stay tuned for more updates on my academic journey!