LATEST NEWS!

2024

• [2024.12] Our paper on Improving Urban Climate Adaptation Modeling in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) Through Transient Urban Surface Albedo Representation has been published in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (JAMES). Congratulations to my first PhD student, Yuan Sun, on publishing her first paper during her PhD studies!


• [2024.11] Excited to announce the release of pyclmuapp (https://envdes.github.io/pyclmuapp/), a Python package for running the Community Land Model Urban (CLMU) seamlessly on your computer—no need for complex dependencies or environment configurations!


• [2024.11] Our paper titled Cities Are Concentrators of Complex, MultiSectoral Interactions Within the Human-Earth System has been published in Earth's Future. I would like to thank Dr. Christa Brelsford and Dr. Andrew Jones for leading this effort.


• [2024.09] Glad to be a member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Talent Peer Review College (PRC).


• [2024.06] Proud PhD supervisor moment: my first PhD student, Yuan Sun, received the Best Student Poster Award at her first international conference presentation during the 21st Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) annual meeting.


• [2024.04] Glad to have been shortlisted for The University of Manchester Open Research Award, commended for integration of open principles into Earth and Environmental Science MSc curriculum and commitment to open practices.


• [2024.02] Honored to join editorial board of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics as a new editor.


• [2024.02] My role as a Youth Editorial Board Member (YEBM) of Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (FESE) (co-published by Springer Nature), initially for a one-year term, has been extended for another two years.


• [2024.01] Our paper on Improving BC Mixing State and CCN Activity Representation with Machine Learning in the Earth System Model has been published in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (JAMES). I would like to thank Prof. Minghuai Wang and Wenxiang Shen for leading this effort. Really proud that our Machine Learning-based emulator has been implemented within the Earth System Model.



2023

• [2023.10] Glad to join the Department Leadership Team of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, where I serve as External Advisory Board and Employability Lead.


• [2023.09] Honored to be awarded as a "City Brain Open Research Youth Scholar" by Yunqi Academy of Engineering (a nonprofit research institute).


• [2023.06] Honored to be invited to join the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Peer Review College (PRC) as a PRC Member.


• [2023.06] I am glad to be an executive committee member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Global Environmental Change section.


• [2023.03] Our "AutoML + PM2.5 estimates" paper was selected for featuring as an AGU Editor's Highlight, and this has just been highlighted on Eos.org. Fewer than 2 per cent of papers are selected to be featured in this way.


• [2023.03] Our paper on Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) to evaluate the information content of tropospheric trace gas columns for fine particle estimates over India: a modeling testbed has been published in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (JAMES). I would like to thank all the co-authors and reviewers/Editor.


• [2023.02] Our work on "Machine Learning + Earth System Modeling for aerosol modelling" has been recognized as a top cited paper in Earth and Space Science (an AGU journal).


• [2023.02] I am glad to be a Guest Editor of the journal Environmental Research Letters (for the Special Issue "Focus on Human-Earth System Interactions under Climate Change").


• [2023.02] I am glad to join the Youth Editorial Board Member (YEBM) of Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (FESE), a journal of Chinese Academy of Engineering, co-published by Springer Nature.


• [2023.01] Honored to be elected as a committee member of the American Meteorological Society Committee on Artificial Intelligence Applications to Environmental Science (known as the "AMS AI Committee").


• [2023.01] I am co-chairing four sessions of 22nd Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science, 103rd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.



2022

• [2022.09] Honored to be a University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) International Affiliate Representative.


• [2022.09] Our book on aerosol modelling is out! Our UIUC team (led by Prof. Nicole Riemer) wrote "Chapter 5. Coagulation."


• [2022.09] Honored to be a keynote speaker at the 2022 International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) Virtual Poster Conference to share my thoughts about "Urban Climate Informatics: An emerging direction in urban climate research."


• [2022.08] THRILLED to announce my new role as an Assistant Professor (UK Lecturer) in Data Science & Environmental Analytics at The University of Manchester!


• [2022.05] Our recent publication titled "Large model structural uncertainty in global projections of urban heat waves" has been selected as one of the two winners of the 2022 Chinese-American Professors in Environmental Engineering and Science (CAPEES) Founding President Best Paper Award. Thank co-authors and CAPEES!


• [2022.03] I am extremely honored to be selected as a member of the 2022 American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Early Career Leadership Academy cohort (ECLA)!


• [2022.01] I am co-chairing the "LSTM and Other Time Series Machine Learning Methods for Time Series Prediction" session of 21st Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science, 102nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.


• [2022.01] I am glad to be a proposal reviewer for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, USA).



2021

• [2021.10] Our paper on machine learning to quantify the structural uncertainty of the aerosol mixing state representation in a modal model (MAM4) has been accepted for the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. I would like to thank all the co-authors: Dr. Nicole Riemer, Dr. Matthew West, Dr. Lei Zhao, Dr. Po-Lun Ma (PNNL), and Dr. Xiaohong Liu (TAMU).


• [2021.10] I am glad to be a proposal reviewer and panelist for National Science Foundation (NSF).


• [2021.09] I am glad to be a Guest Editor of the journal Atmosphere (for the Special Issue "Aerosol mixing state: relevance to air quality, climate and public health"). Thank Dr. Joseph Ching for the leadership. Looking forward to working with Joseph, Dr. Mizuo Kajino and Dr. Kouji Adachi.


• [2021.09] Our paper on water uptake and optical properties of mixed organic-inorganic particles (led by Dr. Lucy Nandy) is published in Aerosol Science and Technology.


• [2021.06] Our paper towards global urban heat waves projections and uncertainty quantification via a data-driven approach has been published in Nature Communications. Please check out our paper here.


• [2021.05] I am extremely honored to be invited as an Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS XVI) participant (an honor bestowed biennially to 25 young researchers worldwide)! Looking forward to learning from young researchers in atmospheric chemistry and representatives of the US DOE, NASA, NOAA, NSF, and EPA.


• [2021.03] I am extremely honored to be awarded the highly prestigious Advanced Study Program (ASP) Postdoctoral Fellowship (~10 awardees worldwide in Atmospheric Research). I look forward to conducting independent and collaborative research in Earth and Environmental Data Science (Machine Learning), Urban Climate & Environment, and Air Quality at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in 2022!


• [2021.02] Our paper "Global multi-model projections of local urban climates" is selected as the cover of Nature Climate Change February issue!


• [2021.01] I am honored to join the International Aerosol Modeling Algorithms (IAMA) conference committee as a technical chair to help develop the conference content and chair a session.


• [2021.01] I am glad to join the leadership team of the Lamont Pod of Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE). Look forward to learning more about accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in Geoscience.


• [2021.01] I am going to join Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in mid-January. Feel excited to work with Prof. Arlene M. Fiore, Prof. Daniel M. Westervelt, and our collaborators on an Air Quality project funded by the Data Science Institute of Columbia University!


• [2021.01] Our paper "Global multi-model projections of local urban climates" is out in Nature Climate Change. It is my great honor to work on this project and be featured in Illinois News and other press coverage.



2020

• [2020.12] Our project towards integration of detailed aerosol process modeling and a large-scale earth system model via machine learning has been released in Earth and Space Science.


• [2020.11] I have deposited my Ph.D. dissertation titled "Coupling Data Science and Numerical Simulations to Empower Atmospheric and Environmental Research".


• [2020.09] I have successfully defended my Ph.D. thesis on September 9, 2020! Thanks a lot for the support and feedback from Dr. Riemer, Dr. Zhao, Dr. West, and Dr. Anantharaj!


• [2020.08] I will be working with Prof. Christopher Tessum and Prof. Nicole Riemer this Fall semester on the project "Machine-learned atmospheric chemical mechanisms" (funded by U.S. EPA Early Career Awards).


• [2020.07] I will continue my internship at Bayer AG // The Climate Corporation this Fall semester.


• [2020.05] I have been awarded by Microsoft AI for Earth for my research!


• [2020.04] I have been awarded by AWS on Earth and Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative for my research!


• [2020.03] I will continue my internship at Bayer AG // The Climate Corporation this summer.


• [2020.01] I gave a talk about Future Climate-Driven Risks to Urban Area during Night of Ideas Chicago 2020 at The Field Museum.


• [2020.01] I am the co-chair (three sessions) of 19th Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science, 100th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.



2019

• [2019.12] I am invited to attend and give a talk about the intergration of machine learning and particle-resolved aerosol simulations in the International Aerosol Modeling Algorithms Conference (IAMA).