Don Morton

Department of Computer Science
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812-1008
Voice: (406) 243-4975
Fax : (406) 243-5139
Intra-UM Campus ONLY Email: Don.Morton AT umontana.edu
ARSC-Related Email: morton AT arsc.edu
All Other Email: donaldjmorton AT gmail.com

Positions

  • August 1997 - present. Asst, Assoc, Full Professor, Department of Computer Science, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT.
  • May 1994 - present. Visiting Scientist, Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
  • August 1994 - July 1997. Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Cameron University, Lawton, OK.
  • 1991 - 1994. Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Computer Science and Department of Petroleum Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
  • January 1990 - December 1990. Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
  • 1980 - 1988. Enlisted U.S. Air Force. Westover AFB, MA; Malmstrom AFB, MT; Elmendorf AFB, AK.

    Education

  • FAA Private Pilot and Ground Instructor Certification, 2003.
  • Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1994. Major in Computer Science. Minor in Geography with emphasis in Applied Climatology. Dissertation: "An Adaptive Finite Element Methodology For The High-Performance Computer Simulation Of Multiphase Flow Processes"
  • B.S., College of Great Falls, Montana, 1988. Major in Computer Science.
  • A.A.S., Community College of the Air Force, 1984. Major in Radio Communications Technology.
  • High school diploma, Algonquin Regional High School, Northboro, MA, 1976.

    Funding

    PI and Co-PI

  • NOAA/COMET - "A Study of WRF Capabilities in Resolving Temperature Inversions in Alaska and Montana"
  • NOAA/COMET - "A Study of WRF Performance in High-Resolution NWP of Topography-Influenced Weather Events in Alaska and Montana"
  • Minerals Management Service - "Beaufort Sea Mesoscale Meteorology Study"
  • Arctic Region Supercomputing Center - "Real-time Weather Modeling in Alaska"
  • Inland Northwest Research Alliance - "Development of Course in Computational Methods for Subsurface Science"
  • National Science Foundation - "Montana Rockies Center for Computational Science"
  • Cray Research, Inc. / Arctic Region Supercomputing Center - "Object Oriented Finite Element Methods for Cray MPP Fluid Flow Simulations"
  • National Science Foundation - "Development of Distributed Computing Laboratory for Education and Research Activities in Distributed and High Performance Computing"
  • National Science Foundation - Supplement - Research Experience for Undergraduates
  • Cray Research, Inc. / Arctic Region Supercomputing Center - "Parallelization and Optimization of a Hydrologic Model for Arctic Regions"
  • Cray Research, Inc. / Arctic Region Supercomputing Center - "Cray T3E Coupling and Optimization of Parallel Hydrologic and Thermal Models for Arctic Regions"

    Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Morton, D.J., J.M. Tyler, "A New Adaptive Finite Element Scheme with 1-Irregular Hexahedral Element Meshes," in Proceesings of the 2000 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Como, Italy, 19-21 March 2000.
  • Row, W.M., B.L. Adams, D.J. Morton, A.H. Wright, "Security Issues in Small Linux Networks."" In Proceedings of the 1999 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, San Antonio, TX, 28 February - 2 March, 1999.
  • Morton, D.J., "Development of Parallel Adaptive Finite Element Implementations for Modeling Two-Phase Oil/Water Flow." In High Performance Computing Systems and Applications, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
  • Morton, D.J., Z. Zhang, L.D. Hinzman, S. O'Connor, "The Parallelization of a Physically Based, Spatially Distributed Hydrologic Code for Arctic Regions." In Proceedings of the 1998 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Atlanta, GA, February 27 - March 1, 1998.
  • Morton, D.J. "Low-Cost Scientific Computing at Small Colleges and Universities," Journal of Computing In Small Colleges, 12(4):120-126, 1997.
  • Morton, D.J., J. Tyler. "Minimizing Development Overhead With Partial Parallelization," IEEE Parallel & Distributed Technology. Vol. 4, No. 3, Fall 1996, pp. 15-24.
  • Morton, D.J. "The Use of Linux and PVM to Introduce Parallel Computing in Small Colleges and Universities," Journal of Computing In Small Colleges . Vol. 11, No. 7, 1996, pp. 13-19.
  • Morton, D.J., J. Tyler, and J.R. Dorroh. "A New 3D Finite Element For Adaptive h-Refinement in 1-Irregular Meshes," International Journal For Numerical Methods in Engineering. Vol. 38, 1995, pp. 3989-4008.
  • Morton, D.J., K. Wang, D.O. Ogbe. "Lessons Learned in Porting Fortran/PVM Code to the Cray T3D," IEEE Parallel & Distributed Technology. Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1995, pp. 4-11.
  • Morton, D.J., J.M. Tyler, A.T. Bourgoyne, and P.A. Schenewerk. "An Adaptive Finite Element Methodology For 2D Simulation of Two-Phase Flow Through Porous Media." In Proceedings of the 1994 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Phoenix, AZ, March 6-8, 1994, pp. 357-362.

    Other Papers and Presentations

  • Morton, D., E. Stevens, and E. Petrescu, "Will WRF at High Resolution Capture Fairbanks' January 2008 Major Snowfall Event?" The Little Alaska Weather Symposium, Fairbanks, AK, 12-13 May 2008.
  • Molders, N., D. Morton, G. Newby, E. Stevens, and M. Stuefer, "Nowcasting and Forecasting Alaskan Weather," Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, April 2008, pp. 515-519.
  • Morton, D., "A Beginner's Venture into Skijoring - From Fairbanks to Western Montana," Paw Prints & Ski Tracks, Newsletter of the Alaska Skijoring and Pulk Association, February 2008.
  • Morton, D., E. Petrescu, "The Northern Rockies Mesoscale Model (NRMM)," 11th Great Divide Weather Workshop, Great Falls, MT, 2-4 October 2007.
  • D. Morton, J. Krieger, X. Fan, M. Shulski, J. Zhang, and A. Klene, "A Study of the Effects of Data Assimilation on Mesoscale Meteorological Modeling in the Beaufort Sea Region," Seventh Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes, San Diego, California, 10-13 September 2007.
  • J.R. Krieger, J. Zhang, X. Fan, D.J. Morton, A. Klene, and M.D. Shulski, "Modeling the Beaufort Sea Coastal Wind Regime Using MM5 and WRF," Poster, Ninth Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography, St. John's, Newfoundland, 28 May - 01 June 2007.
  • Klene, A.E., D.J. Morton, J. Zhang, X. Fan, J.R. Krieger, M.D. Shulski, "Initial evaluation of real-time weather forecasts for the Beaufort Sea Region, Alaska," Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 13-17 April 2007.
  • Fan, X., J. Krieger, D. Morton, J. Zhang, M. Shulski, A. Klene, "Simulating Beaufort Sea Coastal Wind Events Using MM5 and WRF," The Great Alaska Weather Modeling Symposium, Fairbanks, AK, 13-15 March 2007.
  • Webley, P., D. Morton, K. Dean, R. Petersen, "Using WRF Forecasts in Operational Dispersion Modeling of Volcanic Ash," The Great Alaska Weather Modeling Symposium, Fairbanks, AK, 13-15 March 2007.
  • Morton, D., N. Molders, "Tradeoffs in Resolution versus Computational Resources in Modeling a Tanana Valley Wind Event," The Great Alaska Weather Modeling Symposium, Fairbanks, AK, 13-15 March 2007.
  • Petrescu, E., D. Morton, "Investigating the Treatment of Winter Inversions by WRF," The Great Alaska Weather Modeling Symposium, Fairbanks, AK, 13-15 March 2007.
  • Morton, D., P.W. Webley, K. Dean, R. Peterson, "The Use of High Resolution NWP data for Dispersion Modeling of Airborne Volcanic Ash and Tephra Fallout," American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 11-15 December 2006.
  • Morton, D., E. Petrescu, A. Klene, "Studying the Effectiveness of the WRF NWP Model in Forecasting Events in Western Montana," 10th Great Divide Weather Workshop, Billings, MT, 3-5 October 2006.
  • Morton, D., A. Klene, E. Petrescu, E. Stevens, G. Newby, P. Webley, R. Peterson, "Challenges in Using WRF as an Operational and Research Tool for High Resolution NWP in Alaska and Montana," Poster, 7th WRF Users' Workshop, Boulder, CO, 19-22 June 2006.
  • Morton, D., P. Johnsen, "High-Resolution Weather Modeling in Rugged Regions," Supercomputing '05 (SC|05), Seattle, WA, 13-18 November 2005.
  • Morton, D., E. Petrescu, "High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction in Challenging Terrain," 9th Great Divide Weather Workshop, Great Falls, MT, 25-27 October 2005.
  • Morton, D., E. Petrescu, B. Nordgren, "Real-Time High-Resolution Weather Modeling in 'Rugged' Regions," in Cray User Group Proceedings, Albuquerque, NM, 16-19 May 2005.
  • Morton, D, J. Parham, "Engaging Undergraduates in Computational Science Activities Early in Their Undergraduate Careers," UM CAS Graduate Student and Faculty Research Conference, Missoula, MT, 10 April 2004.
  • Parham, Jennifer R., D. Morton, "Scientific Computing in Climate Modeling," Association of American Geographers 2003 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 2003.
  • Morton, D, J. Tyler, "Potential Application of Dynamically Adaptive Grids for Subsurface Process Modeling," Subsurface Science Symposium 2002, Boise, ID, 14-16 October 2002.
  • Morton, D., G. Robinson, J. Shuckra, J. Parham, T. Warburton, "Building and Maintaining Critical Mass for Research Programs in the Frontier Regions," American Association for the Advancement of Science, 53rd Arctic Science Conference, Fairbanks, AK, 18-21 September 2002.
  • Morton, D.J., J. Parham, J. Sauer, "Montana Rockies Center for Computational Science," poster, DOE-EPSCoR Workshop, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5-6 June 2002.
  • Edberg R., G. Robinson, J. Parham, D. Morton, J. Shuckra, T. Warburton, F. Gilfeather, "Collaborative High Performance Computing Course Using The Access Grid," Access Grid Retreat 2002, San Diego, CA, 4-5 March 2002.
  • Kucera, B.A., D. Morton, R. Edberg, N. Jovanovic, "Expanding the AG Community in a Closed Universe," In Proceedings of AG Technical Retreat 2001, Argonne, IL, 30-31 January 2001.
  • Morton, D., G. Prabu, D. Sandholdt, L. Slater, "The Integrative Role of COW's and Supercomputers in Research and Education Activities," in 41st Cray User Group Proceedings, 24-28 May 1999.
  • Morton, D.J., L. Hinzman, E. Lilly, Z. Zhang, D. Goering, "Coupling of Parallel Thermal and Hydrologic Models for Arctic Ecosystems." Poster presentation, Supercomputing '98, Orlando, FL, 7-13 November 1998.
  • Hinzman, L.D., D.L. Kane, E.K. Lilly, D.J. Goering, Z. Zhang, and D. Morton. "Modeling Spatially Distributed Coupled Hydrologic and Thermal Processes." Poster presentation in American Association for the Advancement of Science International Cooperation in Arctic Research: Detecting Global Change and Its Impacts in the Western Arctic - 49th Arctic Science Conferences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 25-28 October 1998.
  • Morton, D.J., L.D. Hinzman, E.K. Lilly, Z. Zhang, D. Goering, "Coupling of Thermal and Hydrologic Models for Arctic Regions on Parallel Processing Architectures." In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on GeoComputation, Bristol, UK, 17-19 September 1998.
  • Morton, D.J. "A Heterogeneous SPMD Adaptive Finite Element Code for Simulating Multiphase Flow Through Porous Media - Linux and Cray T3E Implementations.'' Poster presentation, Supercomputing '97, November 16-21, 1997, San Jose, CA.
  • Morton, D.J. "A Portable SPMD Code For Adaptive Finite Element Methods in Parallel Computing Environments." Poster presentation (for abstract, see http://www.arsc.edu/~morton/sc96ab.html), Supercomputing '96, November 17-22, 1996, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Morton, D.J. "Supercomputing Applications on a Linux Workstation Cluster." 85th Annual Technical Meeting, Oklahoma Academy of Science, November 8, 1996, Oklahoma City, OK.
  • Morton, D.J. "An Integrated Scheme for the Distribution of Adaptive Finite Element Code in a Heterogeneous Computing Environment." Electronic poster presentation ( http://www.arsc.edu/~morton/sc95_poster), Supercomputing '95, December 4-8, 1995, San Diego, CA.
  • Wang, K., D.O. Ogbe, A.S. Lawal, D.J. Morton, "Multigrid Approach for Petroleum Reservoir Simulation on the Cray T3D," in Proceedings of Cray User Group Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska, September 1995.
  • Morton, D.J., J.M. Tyler, A.T. Bourgoyne, and P.A. Schenewerk. "A Distributed Implementation of a Finite Element Approach for the Computer Simulation of Two-Phase Flow Problems." Third SIAM Conference on Mathematical and Computational Issues in the Geosciences, February 8-10, 1995, San Antonio, TX.
  • Morton, D.J., J.M. Tyler, A.T. Bourgoyne, and P.A. Schenewerk. "Development and Implementation of Portable, Distributed Finite Element Methods on a Workstation Cluster and the Cray T3D Supercomputer." 83rd Annual Technical Meeting, Oklahoma Academy of Science, November 12, 1994, Norman, OK.

    Miscellaneous

  • Morton, D.J., K. Wang, D.O. Ogbe. "Development, Porting, and Optimization of a Distributed Direct Solver For the Cray T3D Supercomputer." ARSC Technical Report 94-001, Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 99775, 1994.
  • Morton, D.J., J.M. Tyler, A.T. Bourgoyne, and P.A. Schenewerk. "Analysis and Implementation of a Portable and Versatile Approach for Distributing Transient and Nonlinear Finite Element Computations in Multiprocessor Environments." Department of Computer Science Technical Report 94-001, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, 1994.
  • Grymes, J.M. III, D. Morton, and R.A. Muller. "An Interactive Thornthwaite Water Budget Program For The IBM-PC." LOSC 93-1. Louisiana Office of State Climatology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1993.
  • Iyengar, S.S., L. Prasad, and D.J. Morton. "Structure Of Genetic Algorithms In Biological Systems." In Structuring Biological Systems: A Computer Modeling Approach. Ed. S. Sitharama Iyengar, Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 1992.

    Professional Society Memberships

  • American Meteorological Society, National Weather Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

    Interests

  • Mushing, general farting around in the outdoors with my dawgs, running, hiking, biking, backpacking, fishing, hunting, snowshoeing, skiing, flying, science, reading, country (REAL country) music.