Naruki Hiranuma (a.k.a., Seonggi Moon), Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
Office: Killgore Research Center (Bldg. #35), Room 119
Email: nhiranuma@wtamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-3872
Curriculum Vitae 
Professional Profile
Dr. Hiranuma joined WTAMU in 2016 as an assistant professor of environmental science after earning a M.S. degree from the same program and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Texas A&M University. In his career at WTAMU, he has been the recipient of the 2018 Early Career Research Program Award, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the organization’s most prestigious award that supports early-career faculty. From Japan, he now lives in Amarillo, where he is deeply involved in outreach collaborations with the Don Harrington Discovery Center, Amarillo Zoo, Canyon ISD, National Weather Service and local meteorologists.
Teaching and Related Service
Dr. Hiranuma teaches many environmental science courses. His educational activities target teaching environmental science to both traditional and non-traditional students in the Texas Panhandle community. Combining the topics of environmental science is an efficient and interesting tool to connect audiences with fundamental science by demonstrating how science provides information so one can interpret, digest and solve everyday life problems. He has developed and implemented a series of mobile online hands-on laboratory modules to achieve his goal. As for science community service, he serves as an editorial/topic board member of 3 journals (i.e., Atmosphere; Journal of Environmental Science: Current Research; Journal of Environmental Science and Allied Research).
Research and Creative Activity
Dr. Hiranuma’s research interests exist in atmospheric aerosol-cloud-climate interactions, weather modification (e.g., precipitation enhancement, hail prevention) and assessment of aerosol particles’ impact on public health. At WTAMU, he applies advanced aerosol particle measurement techniques to generate new knowledge regarding the aerosol-cloud interactions and mitigating regional concerns of agricultural dust that contains fine, coarse and biological aerosol particles on air quality and weather (e.g., hail) in the Texas Panhandle.
Dr. Hiranuma heads the Atmospheric and Aerosol Measurement Laboratory (A2ML) for an integrated laboratory and field studies, representing a new research capability of WTAMU. The research capabilities of A2ML include (1) quantifying atmospheric ice-nucleating ability of aerosol particles using online/offline ice nucleation chambers, (2) cloud deconvolution by using counterflow virtual impactors, (3) characterization of physico-chemical properties of atmospheric particles and cloud residuals through a variety of single particle microscopy techniques, and (4) developing physical parameterizations of obtained experimental results and implementing in atmospheric cloud process, weather and climate models. A unique combination of given capabilities enables to comprehensively assess what aerosol particle properties (i.e., chemical, physical or biological) matter the most for cloud formation.
Recent Awards
2020 NSF CAREER Award
Title and ID: CAREER: The role of ice-nucleating particles and their feedback on clouds in warming Arctic climate (1941317)
2018 DOE ECRP Award
Title and ID: Implications of aerosol physicochemical properties including ice nucleation from ARM mega sites towards understanding atmospheric cloud microphysical processes (DE-SC0018979)
2018 EUROCHAMP-2020 Infrastructure Activity Grant
Title and ID: AIDA (Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) investigation on the ice nucleation activity of dust particles emitted from cattle feeding operations in the Texas Panhandle (730997; AIDA-005-2018)
Selected Publications (*WT student)
[1] Hiranuma, N., Adachi, K., Bell, D. M., Belosi, F., Beydoun, H., Bhaduri, B., Bingemer, H., Budke, C., Clemen, H.-C., Conen, F., *Cory, K. M., Curtius, J., DeMott, P. J., Eppers, O., Grawe, S., Hartmann, S., Hoffmann, N., Höhler, K., Jantsch, E., Kiselev, A., Koop, T., Kulkarni, G., Mayer, A., Murakami, M., Murray, B. J., Nicosia, A., Petters, M. D., Piazza, M., Polen, M., Reicher, N., Rudich, Y., Saito, A., Santachiara, G., Schiebel, T., Schill, G. P., Schneider, J., Segev, L., Stopelli, E., Sullivan, R. C., Suski, K., Szakáll, M., Tajiri, T., Taylor, H., Tobo, Y., Ullrich, R., Weber, D., Wex, H., Whale, T. F., *Whiteside, C. L., Yamashita, K., Zelenyuk, A., and Möhler, O.: A comprehensive characterization of ice nucleation by three different types of cellulose particles immersed in water, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4823–4849, 2019.
[2] DeMott, P. J., Möhler, O., Cziczo, D. J., Hiranuma, N., Petters, M. D., Petters, S. S., Belosi, F., Bingemer, H. G., Brooks, S. D., Budke, C., Burkert-Kohn, M., Collier, K. N., Danielczok, A., Eppers, O., Felgitsch, L., Garimella, S., Grothe, H., Herenz, P., Hill, T. C. J., Höhler, K., Kanji, Z. A., Kiselev, A., Koop, T., Kristensen, T. B., Krüger, K., Kulkarni, G., Levin, E. J. T., Murray, B. J., Nicosia, A., O'Sullivan, D., Peckhaus, A., Polen, M. J., Price, H. C., Reicher, N., Rothenberg, D. A., Rudich, Y., Santachiara, G., Schiebel, T., Schrod, J., Seifried, T. M., Stratmann, F., Sullivan, R. C., Suski, K. J., Szakáll, M., Taylor, H. P., Ullrich, R., Vergara-Temprado, J., Wagner, R., Whale, T. F., Weber, D., Welti, A., Wilson, T. W., Wolf, M. J., and Zenker, J.: The Fifth International Workshop on Ice Nucleation phase 2 (FIN-02): laboratory intercomparison of ice nucleation measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6231–6257, 2018.
[3] Suski, K. J., Bell, D. M., Hiranuma, N., Möhler, O., Imre, D., and Zelenyuk, A.: Activation of intact bacteria and bacterial fragments mixed with agar as cloud droplets and ice crystals in cloud chamber experiments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17497–17513, 2018.
[4] Ullrich, R., Hoose, C., Möhler, O., Niemand, M., Wagner, R., Höhler, K., Hiranuma, N., Saathoff, H., and Leisner, T.: A new ice nucleation active site parametrization for desert dust and soot, J. Atmos. Sci., 74, 699–717, 2017.
[5] Hiranuma, N., Möhler, O., Kulkarni, G., Schnaiter, M., Vogt, S., Vochezer, P., Järvinen, E., Wagner, R., Bell, D. M., Wilson, J., Zelenyuk, A., and Cziczo, D. J.: Development and characterization of an ice-selecting pumped counterflow virtual impactor (IS-PCVI) to study ice crystal residuals, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3817–3836, 2016.
[6] Hiranuma, N., Augustin-Bauditz, S., Bingemer, H., Budke, C., Curtius, J., Danielczok, A., Diehl, K., Dreischmeier, K., Ebert, M., Frank, F., Hoffmann, N., Kandler, K., Kiselev, A., Koop, T., Leisner, T., Möhler, O., Nillius, B., Peckhaus, A., Rose, D., Weinbruch, S., Wex, H., Boose, Y., DeMott, P. J., Hader, J. D., Hill, T. C. J., Kanji, Z. A., Kulkarni, G., Levin, E. J. T., McCluskey, C. S., Murakami, M., Murray, B. J., Niedermeier, D., Petters, M. D., O'Sullivan, D., Saito, A., Schill, G. P., Tajiri, T., Tolbert, M. A., Welti, A., Whale, T. F., Wright, T. P., and Yamashita, K.: A comprehensive laboratory study on the immersion freezing behavior of illite NX particles: a comparison of seventeen ice nucleation measurement techniques, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2489–2518, 2015a.
[7] Hiranuma, N., Möhler, O., Yamashita, K., Tajiri, T., Saito, A., Hoffmann, N., Hoose, C., Jantsch, E., Koop, T., and Murakami. M.: Ice nucleation by cellulose and its potential contribution to ice formation in clouds, Nature Geoscience, 8, 273–277, 2015b.
[8] Hiranuma, N., Hoffmann, N., Kiselev, A., Dreyer, A., Zhang, K., Kulkarni, G., Koop, T., and Möhler, O.: Influence of surface morphology on the immersion mode ice nucleation efficiency of hematite particles, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2315–2324, 2014a.
[9] Hiranuma, N., Paukert, M., Steinke, I., Zhang, K., Kulkarni, G., Hoose, C., Schnaiter, M., Saathoff, H., and Möhler, O.: A comprehensive parameterization of heterogeneous ice nucleation of dust surrogate: laboratory study with hematite particles and its application to atmospheric models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 13145–13158, 2014b.
[10] Hiranuma, N., Brooks, S. D., Moffet, R. C., Glen, A., Laskin, A., Gilles, M. K., Liu, P., MacDonald, A. M., Strapp, J. W., and McFarquhar, G. M.: Chemical characterization of individual particles and residuals of cloud droplets and ice crystals collected on board research aircraft in the ISDAC 2008 study, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 6564–6579, 2013.
[11] You, Y., Renbaum-Wolff, L., Carreras-Sospedra, M., Hanna, S. J., Hiranuma, N., Kamal, S., Smith, M. L., Zhang, X., Weber, R. J., Shilling, J. E., Dabdub, D., Martin, S. T., and Bertram, A. K.: Images reveal that atmospheric particles can undergo liquid-liquid phase separations, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 109, 13188–13193, 2012.
[12] Hiranuma, N., Kohn, M., Pekour, M. S., Nelson, D. A., Shilling, J. E., and Cziczo, D. J.: Droplet activation, separation, and compositional analysis: laboratory studies and atmospheric measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 2333–2343, 2011.