Dr. Zhuang, Yizhou (庄一洲)
Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLA
Atmosphere, Climate & Environmental Extremes
ABOUT ME
Starting January 2025, I will join the Department of Geography at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. I am seeking students (master, doctoral, visiting) to join my research team.
I received my B.S. degree from Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST) in 2013, followed by a Ph.D. from Peking University (PKU) in 2019. From 2019 to 2024, I was a postdoctoral researcher working with Prof. Rong Fu in the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
My main research interests are fire weather and drought over the Western US, Great Plains, and Amazon Basin, attribution of internal variability and anthropogenic warming, land-atmosphere coupling, shallow-to-deep convection transition, remote sensing of cloud, and application of statistical and machine learning methods.
I have authored and co-authored 18 publications in top peer-reviewed journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Science Advances, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (JGR-A), and Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (JAS). I am also a reviewer for 18 peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS, Environmental Research Letters (ERL), Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), etc., and a reviewer for the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP).
Two of my works (Zhuang et al. 2021; Turco et al. 2023) that quantify climate change's impact on the increasing fire weather risk over the Western US/California were published and highlighted in PNAS and received extensive coverage by various news outlets; both have top 1% Altmetric Attention Scores among all PNAS articles; Zhuang et al. 2021 was also ESI Highly Cited Paper, recognized as University of California’s 10 Best Research Stories of 2021, and referenced by Congressman Casten from Illinois at the House Science Committee Hearing to support his amendment to H.R.5781 "National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program Act".
▪ Nov 6, 2024: Check out our new paper, Zhuang et al. 2024, published in Science Advances. Our study reveals that in the western US, high evaporative demand—primarily driven by anthropogenic warming—has overtaken precipitation deficits as the leading contributor to drought severity and coverage.
▪ Oct 2, 2024: Congratulations to my student Annie Rosen, co-mentored by myself, Prof. Rong Fu at UCLA, and Dr. Longtao Wu at JPL, for winning the Best JSIP Presentation Award at the UCLA JIFRESSE Summer Internship Program (JSIP). (Link)
▪ Mar 28, 2024: Check out our new paper, Wang et al. 2024 (as corresponding author), published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. It highlights the role of lower-tropospheric humidity in land-atmosphere coupling under dry soil conditions in the US Southern Great Plains.
▪ Mar 14, 2024: Invited talk at UCLA AOS 271 Seminar: Atmospheric Dynamics. "Impacts of Atmospheric Circulation and Anthropogenic Warming on Drought and Wildfire Risk in the Western US". (Recording)
▪ Jan/Feb, 2024: Zhuang et al. 2021 (PNAS) received the "ESI Highly Cited Paper" rating.
▪ Feb 06, 2024: Check out my new paper, Zhuang & Fu 2024, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. It proposes a "Self-Organizing Map - Analogue" approach to quantify circulation influence on precipitation anomalies and investigates the role of PDO in precipitation changes in the US Southwest and Great Plains.
▪ Feb 06, 2024: Heartfelt congratulations to my postdoc advisor, Prof. Rong Fu, on the distinguished honor of being elected as a new member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). (UCLA News)
▪ Jun 20, 2023: Co-authored paper Turco et al. 2023 (PNAS) is highlighted in "In This Issue" of PNAS, Vol. 120, No. 25.
▪ Jun 14, 2023: Interviewed by LA Time: "Wildfire burn areas are getting bigger due to climate change"
▪ May 19, 2023: Received UCLA JIFRESSE Outstanding Leadership/Service Award, for service as a member of the 2022 JIFRESSE Summer Internship Program (JSIP) Organization Committee.
▪ May 9, 2023: Collaborated research published in PNAS: Turco et al. 2023 - Anthropogenic climate change impacts exacerbate summer forest fires in California
▪ Feb 2, 2023: Received the Richard P. & Linda S. Turco Exceptional Research Publication Award at UCLA AOS Award Dinner.
Y. Zhuang, R. Fu*, J. Lisonbee, A. M. Sheffield, B. A. Parker, and G. Deheza, 2024: Anthropogenic warming has ushered in an era of temperature-dominated droughts in the western United States. Science Advances, 10(45), eadn9389. (Link; PDF)
G. Wang, R. Fu, Y. Zhuang*, et al., 2024: Influence of Lower Tropospheric Moisture on Local Soil Moisture-Precipitation Feedback over the US Southern Great Plain. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(6), 3857-3868. (Link; PDF)
Y. Zhuang* and R. Fu 2024: Quantifying the Contribution of Atmospheric Circulation to Precipitation Variability and Changes in the US Great Plains and Southwest Using Self-Organizing Map–Analogue. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(3), 1641-1657. (Link; PDF)
M. Turco*, J. T. Abatzoglou, S. Herrera, Y. Zhuang, et al., 2023: Anthropogenic climate change impacts exacerbate summer forest fires in California. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(25), e2213815120. (Article highlighted “In This Issue”) (Link; PDF)
J. Zhang*, K. Guan*, R. Fu*, B. Peng, S. Zhao, and Y. Zhuang, 2023: Evaluating seasonal climate forecasts from dynamical models over South America. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 24(4), 801-814. (Link; PDF)
Y. Zhuang*, R. Fu*, B. D. Santer, et al., 2021: Quantifying Contributions of Natural Variability and Anthropogenic Forcings on Increased Fire Weather Risk Over Western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (45), e2111875118. (Article “From the Cover”, highlighted “In This Issue”) (Link; PDF)
Questions?
Contact zhuangyz AT pku.org.cn (replace AT with @) for collaboration inquiries and additional information about my research.