Dr. Julie Pullen is Director of the Stevens-led Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Center of Excellence in Maritime Security.  The Center examines basic science issues and emerging technologies to improve the security of ports as well as coastal and offshore operations. In her research projects she employs ultra high-resolution coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling in order to understand and forecast the dynamics of coastal urban regions throughout the world.  Her expertise encompasses study of the Mediterranean, U.S. east and west coasts and Pacific island regions, with a particular emphasis on predicting chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) dispersion in coastal cities in the event of a terrorist or accidental release.

She was a principal investigator on a Department of Homeland Security project to improve prediction of CBR dispersion in New York City by integrating multi-scale modeling of air, sea, and buildings. Additionally, Dr. Pullen was a member of the management team for the midtown Manhattan 2005 Urban Dispersion Program tracer release study, the largest of its kind in the U.S. 

Dr. Pullen pioneered the two-way linkage of a high-resolution mesoscale atmosphere and ocean model for realistic applications in the coastal zone and published several award-winning research articles detailing the superior forecasts of both realms that resulted from coupling the models.  This work formed the foundation and motivation for the transition of a state-of-the-art, high-resolution, globally relocatable coupled ocean, atmosphere, and wave model into operational use for diverse applications such as mission planning by the Navy SEALs.  She was named to an Office of Naval Research scientific steering committee to conduct modeling and measurements (including six oceanographic research cruises) focused on the Philippines.  As part of that effort, she oversees and interprets operational ocean and atmosphere forecasts of the region for use in fieldwork planning, execution and analysis.

She was the co-chair of the 2010 Ocean Sciences meeting convened jointly by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), The Oceanography Society (TOS) and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), drawing together ~5000 oceanographers worldwide.  She also served as a member of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Waterside Security Conference held in Italy in 2010.  As the chair of the Coastal Environment Committee of the American Meteorological Society, she was lead organizer of the 7th Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes that met jointly at her initiative with the 7th Symposium on the Urban Environment. 

Dr. Pullen is an adjunct research scientist and past Marie Tharp visiting fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.  She was previously a science fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation where she was a member of the external evaluation committee for the national Top Officials 2 Full Scale Exercise (TOPOFF-2). She received a B.A. from Macalester College, majoring in physics and math, and was the first undergraduate intern at the Santa Fe Institute.  She then completed a master’s degree in applied mathematics at the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in physical oceanography at Oregon State University. 

Julie is married to Dan Kohn, an entrepreneur, and they live in Manhattan with their sons, Adam and Ellis.

She can be reached at julie@theworldisyourocean.net. More information can be found at www.theworldisyourocean.net, and you can follow her blog at SeaAndSkyJP.