Kar’retta Venable, PhD. - Postdoctoral Researcher
Meet Dr. Kar’retta Venable, a Postdoctoral Researcher with Oak Ridge Institute for Science & Education (ORISE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As a Postdoctoral Researcher, she develops mitigation tools for wild-land fire hydrology and green infrastructure for water resource protection. She also develops software for nutrient transport within hydrologic systems. Before, her career as a Postdoctoral Research, Dr. Venable was a professor at Columbus State University and Columbus Technical College for the Earth and Space Sciences and General Studies Departments.
Dr. Venable holds Doctoral Degree in Atmospheric Sciences from Howard University. As a student in the Howard University Program for Atmospheric Sciences (HUPAS), she was advised by Dr. Vernon Morris, and completed a NOAA Center for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) a research fellowship. She was also a National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Trainee (IGERT) with the Johns Hopkins University Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering.
Dr. Venable holds a Bachelor of Science in geology and a Master of Science in environmental Science from Columbia State University. Her research specialties are in aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions, extreme precipitation events, water quality and sustainability, hydrologic cycle and flow regimes, geo-spatial analysis, and environmental and atmospheric interactions. Dr. Venable wrote a dissertation entitled, “Characterizing aerosol impacts on the distribution of water in the tropospheric column during the monsoon season in the Philippines”.
She is also the owner of The Venable's Education and Training Services (The V.E.T.S.) which specializes in First Aid CPR training and STEAM educational outreach.
Why is diversity in STEM important to you?
It's very difficult to become something you can't see. The importance of diversity is critical to create a balance in gender and racial equality. It is necessary that all cultures have exposure to STEM education and opportunities. Through more exposure, societal boundaries are removed and leads us towards a STEM workforce that is more tangible to the audiences we serve.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment is an application I wrote for the historical preservation for the Mildred L. Terry Library, the first library for African Americans in segregated Columbus, GA.
What advice would you give to youth who are interested in your career field?
1.Take all of the math and science courses you can, as they all will be critical.
2.Learn programming, as this becomes a limitation in advance computational science of the future.
3.Find a mentor who represents the ideals of your personal career interests and goals early in your academic matriculation.
What is your professional or personal mantra?
Be the change you want to see