Justin P. Cooke

Who am I?

I received my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2024 advised by Dr. George Ilhwan Park and committee members Dr. Doug Jerolmack and Dr. Paulo Arratia.

I have since joined the Dynamics of Ocean Currents and Fronts Group as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography, working with Dr. Kathleen Donohue and Dr. D. Randolph Watts.

Research Scope

My work bridges mechanical engineering and geophysics.

Small scales set large outcomes. Turbulent motions transport momentum, energy, heat, pollutants and other scalars across a wide range of scales. Modifications to turbulence occur where flows encounters a change in surface roughness, such as suburb to city or downwind of an offshore wind farm array, or where sea ice drifts meets a boundary currents in the ocean. It is where these new scales are introduced that equilibrium assumptions, wall models, and parameterizations break down.

My research investigates these motions, and their downstream impacts on the environmental system; from sediment transport, air-sea fluxes, and predictability of ocean mesoscale eddies. My work addresses these problems using large-eddy simulation (LES), satellite derived and in-situ observations, and emerging machine learning methods.

Sep 2, 2026

Congratulations to Justin and co-authors on their publication's acceptance to the Journal of Physical Oceanography! Check it out below:

Jul 30, 2026

Justin presented his recently submitted work on deep, mesoscale eddy variability in the Gulf of Mexico at the Understanding Gulf Ocean Systems (UGOS) seminar!

May 29, 2026

Congratulations to Justin and collaborators for having their NASA EPSCoR Seed grant titled "Energy Fluxes and Velocity Kinematics of the Heterogeneous Polar Tempest" selected for funding!

Feb 27, 2026

Justin presented his work at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland!

Jan 30, 2026

After spending the last year as Coordinator, Justin opened the URI Graduate School of Oceanography's Physical Oceanography Seminar Series with his work on the impact of deep mesoscale eddies in forecasting the Gulf!

Streamwise velocity fluctuations from WMLES of a smooth-to-rough flow at Re = 1.6 million. Flow is from left to right.

Reynolds shear-stress soon after a smooth-to-rough transition. Results are from WMLES of an atmospheric boundary layer flow at Re = 1.6 million. Flow is from the top right to the bottom left.

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Who am I?

Research Scope