Dr. Fillmore received a B.A. in Physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with an emphasis in high energy particle physics, in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics and Planetary Science from the University of Colorado in 2006. His doctoral studies focused on modeling the radiation balance of the Earth's climate system and its modulation by natural and anthropogenic aerosols. He worked as a graduate student and research associate for six years at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Boulder, in the CGD (Climate and Global Dynamics) division, while collaborating in part with the NASA CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) satellite project.

Dr. Fillmore has broad research interests in atmospheric physics, which currently include high performance object-oriented 3D radiative transfer modeling in clouds and fast data analysis and visualization of satellite remote sensing and climate model datasets. He is well versed in 4th generation languages such as IDL (Interactive Data Language) and object-oriented languages such as C++.