Thomas Fauchez is a space research scientist employed by American University at NASA GSFC in the Planetary Systems Laboratory (code 693). His research interests involve the modeling of exoplanetary atmospheres, climate and circulation using general circulation models (GCMs) with a particular emphasis on clouds.
Dr. Fauchez created the TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI), the first structure international model intercomparison of a confirmed exoplanets that is connected to simulated observations. He has then created the Climates Using Interactive Suites of Intercomparisons Nested for Exoplanet Studies (CUISINES), a large framework co-led with Linda Sohl to host model-intercomparisons for the exoplanet community (https://nexss.info/cuisines/).
He also employs radiative transfer tools such as the Planetary Spectrum generator (PSG, https://psg.gsfc.nasa.gov/) to simulate atmospheric characterization of rocky exoplanets and biosignature detection with future space-based observatories.
Before his position in planetary science, Thomas Fauchez was a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) fellow at NASA GSFC, in the Climate and Radiation Laboratory (code 613) under the supervision of Steven Platnick. He worked on cirrus cloud heterogeneity impacts for MODIS cloud property retrievals, in the visible and thermal infrared.
He received his PhD in atmospheric physics at Lille University in the Laboratoire d'Optique Atmospherique (LOA) under the supervision of Pr. Philippe Dubuisson, Dr Celine Cornet and Dr Frederic Szczap (LaMP). He studied cirrus cloud heterogeneities and their impacts on the thermal infrared radiative transfer and cloud property retrievals.
Thomas Fauchez also received a master's degree in space sciences, speciality astrophysics. His master's thesis involved the study of massive star binary systems with colliding winds using XMM Newton X-rays data with the GAPHE group at Liege University, Belgium.