Thangs's research focuses primarily on understanding and predicting extreme climate through regional atmospheric modeling. The three primary lines of his research are: 1) improve convective-resolving simulations of severe weather, 2) develop enhanced parameterization schemes for the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, and 3) study urbanization effects on extreme climate. He is currently working on extreme precipitation climatology in the Arabian Peninsula.

• Managing vegetation for stronger cooling efficiency during hot days in the Arabian Peninsula / Zampieri M., R. Alkama, T. M. Luong, K. Ashok, and I. Hoteit / Ecol. Indic., 154, 110789, 2023.
• Retrospective sub-seasonal forecasts of extreme precipitation events in the Arabian Peninsula using convective-permitting modeling / Risanto C. B., H. Chang, T. M. Luong, H. P. Dasari, R. Attada, C. L. Castro, and I. Hoteit / Climate Dyn., 2022 / DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06336-8.
• Extreme precipitation events are becoming less frequent but more intense over Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Are shifting weather regimes the cause? / Luong T. M., H. P. Dasari, and I. Hoteit / Atmos. Sci. Lett. 21 (8), e981, 2020
• Impact of urbanization on the simulation of extreme rainfall in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia / Luong T. M., H. P. Dasari, and I. Hoteit / J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol. 59, 953-971, 2020
• Improvement in the modeled representation of North American Monsoon precipitation using a modified Kain-Fritsch convective parameterization scheme / Luong T. M., C. L. Castro, T. M. Nguyen, W. W. Cassell, H. -I. Chang / Atmosphere, 9, 31, 2018
• The more extreme nature of North American Monsoon precipitation in the Southwestern U.S. as revealed by a historical climatology of simulated severe weather events / Luong T. M., C. L. Castro, H. Chang, T. Lahmers, D. K. Adams, and C. A. Ochoa-Moya J. / J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol. 56, 2509–2529, 2017
  

• ​Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

• 2022 - present: Research Scientist​
• 2017 – 2022: Postdoctoral Fellow, PSE, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
• 2016 – 2017: Postdoctoral Fellow, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

• ​Graduate Incentives for Growth Awards (GIGA) in Hydrometeorology-related Research (2011-2012)

• Physical Science and Engineering Division (PSE)