Dana X Kerola

Title
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Email
Department
Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology
College
College of Arts & Sciences

Dr. Dana Xavier Kerola is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST). He holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Arizona and an M.A. in Astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

During 2004-2007, Dr. Kerola was a physicist with Northrop Grumman, Azusa, CA working in areas of passive microwave radiative transfer and space-based infrared systems simulation and engineering. At the start of 2008, he took a contract position as an Atmospheric Scientist at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he was involved in polarized atmospheric radiative transfer modeling and spacecraft sensor vicarious calibration.

Dr. Kerola’s dissertation research at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), culminated in the first-ever comprehensive computer model of the near-infrared scattering and absorption of sunlight by particles and molecules in the troposphere of Saturn. Immediately after obtaining his Ph.D., as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Kerola created a full radiative transfer model (RTM) for calculating the multiple scattering of sunlight (including polarization) in the earth’s atmosphere. He went on to adapt his RTM in order to compute night-sky illumination produced by the artificial lighting due to urban areas.

Since 2015, Dr. Kerola continues to teach mathematics, physics and most recently astronomy with the MST Department. He has authored a number of technical papers published in prominent physical science journals (e.g., Icarus, MNRAS, and IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing) relating to his former research specialty of radiative transfer physics. In addition, on a popular level, Cambridge Scholars Publishing has published two of his books, one from 2009 entitled Inside Out: Looking for Ourselves in Time and Space, and now his new book When Matter Became Mind: How the Universe Created Consciousness of Itself, released in September, 2025. 

One of Dr. Kerola’s long-running avocations has been aimed at collecting rock and roll music. In his new book, Dr. Kerola weaves references to popular song lyrics into his discussions of the deepest topics in human thought regarding the origin of the universe and human  consciousness.

  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Atmospheric Sciences: Astronomy, University of Arizona
  • M.A. - Master of Arts in Astronomy, University of California-Los Angeles
  • B.S. - Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
  • Faculty Standards Teaching Certificate - Pima County Community College District

Since October, 2015 I have been instructing mathematics and physics courses for ERAU-W [MATH 112, Applications of Calculus in Aviation, and PHYS 102, Explorations in Physics via EagleVision and Online, and MATH 111 Algebra and Trigonometry, in-person at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, As of May, 2024, I taught for the first time ERAU-W PHYS 224 –ASTRONOMY, and am teaching again during the January, 2025 term. Also, I have now taught ERAU-W PHYS 123- THE SCIENCE OF FLIGHT during August and October, 2024.

Articles

  1. Kerola, D.X. (2002) “Where is Reality”, Planetary Science Institute Newsletter, spring, 2002.
  2. Kerola, D.X. (1996), “Real meaning of space exploration may yet reap broader knowledge”, The Arizona Daily Star, Nov. 16, A-17.
  3. Kerola, D.X., (1988), “Dark Desert Highways”, Sky and Telescope, 75, 534-536.

Papers

  1. Kerola, D.X. and L.H. Aller (1976), “Spectrum Synthesis and the Solar Abundance of Cobalt”, Publ. A.S.P., 88, 122-127.
  2. Gelb,S.W., L.J. Goldhammer, and D.X. Kerola, (1985), “In-orbit Performance of Hughes HS-376 Solar Arrays”, Proceedings of the 18th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.
  3. Tomasko, M.G., S.K. Pope, D.X. Kerola, P.H. Smith, and L.P. Giver (1989), “Constraints on Haze and Cloud Structure from Titan’s Albedo Between 1 and 2.5 Microns, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 21, 961.
  4. Giver, L.P., D.C. Benner, M.G. Tomasko, U. Fink, and D.X. Kerola (1990), “Gaussian Quadrature Exponential Sum Modeling of Near Infrared Methane Laboratory Spectra Obtained At Temperatures From 106 to 297 K”, First International Conference on Laboratory Research for Planetary Atmospheres (NASA CP 3077), 147-156.
  5. Kerola, D.X., H.P. Larson, and M.G. Tomasko (1993), “Near-IR Spectroscopic Studies of the Troposphere of Saturn”, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 25, 1055.
  6. Kerola, D.X. (1996), “Polarization and Intensity of Sunlight in Planetary Atmospheres: Revisiting the Gauss-Seidel Modelling Approach”, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc., 28, 1158.
  7. Kerola, D.X. H.P. Larson, and M.G. Tomasko (1997), “Analysis of the Near-IR Spectrum of Saturn: A Comprehensive Radiative Transfer Model of Its Middle and Upper Troposphere”, Icarus , 127, 190-212.
  8. Mercer, R.D., L. Dunkelman, G.E. Shaw, S.M. Larson, and D.X. Kerola, (1997), “Solar spectral radiance measurements: connectivity across time and place”, Proceedings of the NEWRAD’97 Conference, held in Tucson, October 27-29, 1997
  9. Kerola, D.X. and S.M. Larson (1999), “Adaptation of Planetary Atmospheres Modeling Methods for Analysis of Coma Dust Optical Properties in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp):I”, Icarus, 140, 439-445.
  10. Kerola, D.X., K. Didan, and A.R. Huete (1999), “Implementation of a Radiative Transfer Code for Atmospherically correcting SeaWiFS and GLI Spectral Data”, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, January.
  11. Kerola, D.X. and S.M. Larson (2001), “Analysis of Coma Dust Optical Properties in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp):II  Effects of Polarization”, Icarus, 149, 351-356.
  12. Kerola, D.X. (2006),”Modeling Artificial Nightsky Brightness with a Polarized Multiple Scattering Radiative Transfer Computer Code”, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 365, 1295, Feb, 2006.
  13. Kerola, D.X. (2006), “Calibration of Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Upper Air Brightness Temperature Measurements Using a Comprehensive Radiative Transfer Model”, Radio Sci., 41, RS4001,doi:10.1029/2005RS003329.
  14.  Kerola, D.X., C.J. Bruegge, H.N. Gross, and M.C. Helmlinger (2009), “On-Orbit Calibration of the EO-1 Hyperion and Advanced Land Imager (ALI) Sensors Using the LED Spectrometer (LSpec) Automated Facility”, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 47, No. 4, April, 2009.
  15. Kerola, D.X. and C.J. Bruegge (2009), “Desert Test Site Uniformity Analysis”, Proc. of SPIE,  Conference on Optics and Photonics, Earth Observing Systems XIV, vol. 7452, doi:10.1117/12.824640.
  16. Kerola, D.X., M. Lampel, M.W. Shephard, G.B. Osterman, R.L. Herman, A. Eldering (2009), “Validation of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Retrievals”, submitted to the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, November, 2009.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide [ERAU-W], Adjunct Assistant Professor, February, 2013 to present. Since October, 2015 I have been instructing mathematics and physics courses for ERAU-W [MATH 112, Applications of Calculus in Aviation, and PHYS 102, Explorations in Physics via EagleVision and Online, and MATH 111 Algebra and Trigonometry, in-person at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, As of May, 2024, I taught for the first time ERAU-W PHYS 224 –ASTRONOMY, and am teaching again during the January, 2025 term. Also, I have now taught ERAU-W PHYS 123- THE SCIENCE OF FLIGHT during August and October, 2024.

Pima Community College, Adjunct Faculty, August, 2011 to May, 2020. From Fall, 2011 through the Spring, 2017 semester, I have been instructing an introductory lecture+laboratory course in solar system astronomy [AST101IN] at the Northwest Campus of Pima College. In Spring, 2012, I developed the course materials for a lecture+laboratory class in physical geography [meteorology and climate] at the Northwest Campus, where I had instructed that course during Fall, 2012 and Fall, 2013. Since Fall, 2013 my additional part-time PCC workload consists of a lecture+laboratory class in stellar and galactic astronomy. Furthermore, during Summer Session A, 2016 I instructed a Title III revised course in physics [PHY 121, Mechanics] at Pima Northwest Campus. In Fall, 2017, I instructed a mathematics course at the Downtown Pima Campus [MAT 151 College Algebra]. By Spring, 2018 I was instructing AST101IN online via D2L. I continue teaching the face-to-face [F2F] AST101IN course as well.

From January, 2010 into the summer of 2011, I was in an aggressive work search mode after my funding had expired for the position I had held as an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL], Pasadena, California. The position I held with Westwind Engineering immediately after concluding my duties at JPL was only designed to be a short-range consulting offering.

Westwind Engineering, Inc., Research Engineer/Consultant at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, October, 2009 to December, 2009. I had been performing atmospheric correction on hyperspectral image data from airborne sensors. The work involved implementation of a radiative transfer program named FLAASH [Fast line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes].

Skillstorm Government Integrated Services (SGIS), Atmospheric Scientist at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, January, 2008 to October, 2009.

My work at JPL entailed performing vicarious calibration of on-orbit satellite sensors using real-time measurements of surface and atmospheric properties in conjunction with radiative transfer models. I also supported pre-launch calibration efforts on behalf of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory [OCO] Project. In addition I conducted time-series analyses to validate the retrieval of sea-surface temperatures from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer [TES].

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (NGES), Azusa, Physicist/Mission Phenomenologist, October, 2003 to December, 2007   {Security Clearance- SECRET level}

I was involved in enhancing comprehensive radiative transfer models for on-going calibration/validation of Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) upper air spectral channels; I performed atmospheric compensation for Advanced Hyperspectral Algorithm group’s involvement with NGES’s (now JPL’s) visible-IR spectrometer facility atop Mt. Wilson; I also performed analysis of AFRL Long-Slant airborne hyperspectral data over DOE SGP ARM site using MODTRAN. Other experience of mine at NGES was in the acquisition and analysis of multi-satellite, multi-spectral Earth Observing System weather-related datasets for use in clutter mitigation and target discrimination studies.

The University of Arizona, Planetary Sciences, & Atmospheric Sciences, & Soil, Water, and Environmental Sciences; Research Associate June1997 to October, 2003

In my University of Arizona research capacity I had been dividing time amongst 3 distinct departments.  At Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), I was modeling scattered light from the coma of Comet Hale Bopp. I had also been analyzing time-series earth satellite data to determine possible correlations of dynamical tracers (i.e., planetary waves) with the spatial and temporal trends of stratospheric ozone. In addition to continuing work at LPL, as of March, 2000 I had joined the Institute of Atmospheric Physics to contribute to algorithm verification and image processing efforts as part of the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) analysis team. From June, 1997 through September, 1999 I worked with the Terrestrial Bio-physics Remote Sensing Group (TBRS) wherein atmospheric corrections for Rayleigh scattering plus plus ozone absorption for use in the preparation of high spatial resolution global coverage maps of Earth soil and vegetation spectral albedo were made using a polarized radiative transfer code I created while at the University of California, Irvine.