As one of SFU's most outstanding graduate students from the Faculty of Environment, Dr. Florian Herla is recognized with the Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal. On behalf of SFU, we congratulate Dr. Herla on his outstanding achievements.

Florian Herla’s doctoral research focused on how snowpack simulations can enhance snow avalanche forecasting and resulted in his thesis, Improving the applicability of large-scale distributed snowpack simulations for operational use in avalanche forecasting. His research introduced innovative methods to analyze these simulations in practical ways, providing forecasters with valuable insights about their strengths and weaknesses.

As an atmospheric scientist and mountain guide, Herla is motivated by practical impact as well as academic research. Herla actively builds partnerships with avalanche safety professionals to provide tools so warning agencies and snow model researchers can use them to make informed decisions about managing the avalanche safety risks to ultimately, help save lives. Public avalanche forecasters use this information to provide the public with information about the current conditions and make recommendations about proceeding into mountainous regions.

Avalanche Canada has integrated some of his methods and visualizations into the operational snowpack model chain of the Canadian avalanche warning service. Since the completion of his program, Herla has been working for the Tyrolean and Norwegian avalanche warning services to implement his methods in their snowpack model systems.

In addition to becoming a fully certified IFMGA mountain guide and father during his studies, he also added two published articles, with another two currently in review, and three conference proceedings as well as nine professional presentations.

Herla’s supervisor, Dr. Pascal Haegeli, speaks highly of Herla’s time at SFU and the impact of his research. Says Haegeli, “Mr. Herla’s natural curiosity, high academic skills, innovative thinking, and focus on practical solutions has led to a tremendously exciting research outcome that will change how snowpack simulations are used in avalanche forecasting in Canada and around the world for years to come. The quality of his research, its potential for impact, and his leadership have all been exemplary and unrivaled among the students who have come through my research program.”

Says Herla, “Receiving this award is an immense honor and I feel deeply grateful to all who supported me on my PhD journey. The work and learning environment that my supervisor Dr. Pascal Haegeli created for our research team helped me not only strive forward scientifically, but also taught me so many soft skills---collaboration, communication, and an invaluable awareness of all the potential outside the box.”

He is currently developing an operational weather and snowpack model chain with multiple international stakeholders. Soon, he will return to SFU for a Postdoctoral Fellowship on ensemble snowpack modeling, a probabilistic approach to predicting snow conditions.