Principal investigator

Qianlai Zhuang (qzhuang at purdue.edu)

My research focuses on the interactions among atmosphere, biosphere, and human dimension in the context of climate change, chemical element cycles, and policy-making. One of my major research activities is on carbon exchanges between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere by investigating how changes of climate, soil physics (e.g., permafrost dynamics, change of soil moisture), atmospheric chemicals (e.g., CO2 and O3), land-use and land-cover (e.g., fire disturbances), affect the carbon assimilation and decomposition with both process-based and inversion modeling approaches. My second major research activity is on modeling CH4 exchanges between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems. My third major research activity is on analyzing consequences of air pollutants for ecosystem services and the economy. I am directing the Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Dynamics Laboratory (EBDL) at Purdue.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~qzhuang/

Post doc fellows

Yanyu Lu (lu26 at Purdue.edu)

I received my Ph.D. from Nanjing Agricultural University in August 2007. My dissertation concerns the generation of biogenic trace gas emissions from agro-ecosystems. Starting September 2008, I am working with Prof. Zhuang as a post-doc researcher. My current research focus on modeling carbon cycling of agro-ecosystems and investigating the emissions of nitrogen greenhouse gases from terrestrial ecosystems.

Personal web: N/A

Kai Xu (xu10 at purdue.edu)

I obtained my Ph.D. from China University of Geosciences and was a Post-doc fellow in Beijing Normal University. Starting October 2007, I have been working with Prof. Zhuang at Purdue. My research focuses on studying global carbon dioxide and methane dynamics using process-based biogeochemistry models and remote sensing products.

Personal web: N/A

Graduate students

Jinyun Tang (tang16 at purdue.edu)

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences. I obtained both my Masters degree and Bachelors degree majored in Atmospheric Sciences from Nanjing University, China. In the Fall of 2006, I started work with Prof. Qianlai Zhuang at Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Dynamics Laboratory (EBDL) at Purdue University. My thesis is focusing on coupling a large-scale process-based biogeochemical model, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) to atmospheric climate and chemistry models to study feedbacks between biogeochemical cycling and climate change.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~tang16/

Xiaoliang Lu (lxiaolia at purdue.edu)

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences.  I obtained my Bachelors degree and Masters degree majored in Geography from Wuhan University and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), respectively. Starting the Summer of 2007, I work with Prof. Qianlai Zhuang towards a doctoral degree at Purdue.  My thesis research focuses on studying carbon and water dynamics in the complex landscapes of Northern high latitudes through integrating satellite and in situ data and mechanistic models.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~lxiaolia/

Yueyang Jiang (jiang5 at Purdue.edu)

Yueyang has a Bachelor degree of Automation from College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, China. Starting Spring of 2008, he works towards a doctoral degree through studying the feedbacks of the biosphere and atmosphere with rigorous mathematical and statistical modeling approaches.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~jiang5/

Min Chen (chenm at purdue.edu)

Min Chen received his Masters Degree and Bachelors Degree from Beijing Normal University in the fields of Remote Sensing & Geographic Information System and Computer Science & Technology, respectively. Starting Spring of 2008, he is working towards his PhD degree. His research focuses are on examining the impacts of atmospheric climate and chemistry on terrestrial ecosystem structure and functioning using in-situ data and satellite imageries as well as ecosystem and atmospheric chemistry models.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~chenm/

Zhiwei Zhang (zhang216 at purdue.edu)

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences. I obtained my Bachelors degree in Forestry from Beijing Forestry University in 1998 and Master degree in Department of Forestry & Natural Resources from Purdue University in 2008. Starting Fall of 2009, I work with Prof. Qianlai Zhuang towards a doctoral degree at Purdue. My research will combine various satellite remote sensing products and ecosystem modeling approach to investigate how land use and land cover have changed in the past and how they will change in the future and their impacts on biogeochemical cycles focusing on Northern Eurasia region.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~zhang216/

Qing Zhu (zhuq at purdue.edu)

I obtained my Bachelor's degree from Nanjing University majoring in Atmospheric Sciences. I am proceeding to a PhD degree in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University under supervision of Prof. Qianlai Zhuang. My research will focus on investigating the feedbacks between atmosphere and biosphere with a focus on examining how ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycles influence the atmosphere and ultimately induce the global climate change. Atmospheric model and ecosystem and biochemical models will be involved in my research.

Personal web: N/A

Exchange Scholars / Students

Xinhua Sui

Xinghua received his Bachelors Degree of Applied Mathematics from Shandong University in the fields of Mathematical Modeling and System Science. He has been working towards his PhD degree of Ecology in Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy School of Sciences. His research focuses are on validation and sensitivity analysis of terrestrial ecosystem models using eddy flux tower data and field experimental data

Personal web: N/A

Visiting scholars

Lab Alumnis

Jicheng He (he1 at purdue.edu )

I am a visiting scientist with the EBDL lab, I received my Ph.D. from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing. Before coming to Purdue, I was a post- doctoral scientist in the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS. My interests include: the responses of vegetation ecosystem to climatic change in Tibetan plateau; forest productivity and alpine timberline responses to climatic change in southeastern Tibetan plateau and the relationships between tree growth of different species and climatic factors in Tibetan plateau using methods in dendrometer and dendrochronology.

Personal web: N/A

Yunfeng Hu (hu9 at purdue.edu)

I obtained my Ph.D. from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research ( IGSNRR ), the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS ) in June 2005. After that, I was a Post-doc fellow in the same institute until June, 2007. Since then, I am a research scientist at the Resources & Environmental Sciences Data Center (RESDC) of the CAS. My researches focus on (1) Quantitatively assessing soil erosions by using the Cs-137 technique in wind erosion regions in China; (2) Studying land-use and land-cover changes in the Mongolia Plateau; and (3) Studying macro resources and the social-economic applications such as regional planning and sustainability assessment through integrating environmental data. Starting July, 2007, as a Visiting Scientist at Purdue, I will concentrate my studies on further quantifying soil erosions and their effects on carbon cycling by integrating field and remote sensing data with ecosystem modeling approaches.

Personal web: N/A

Guangsheng Zhou

Professor Zhou has been visiting our lab from May to July 2008 as a Visiting Professor. He is one of leading scientists in the field of climate change and ecosystems in China. He has been actively interacting with our Purdue researchers in those research areas.

Personal web: N/A

Jingfeng Xiao (xiao3 at purdue.edu)

I am a post-doc fellow in the EBDL lab, I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in August 2006. In my dissertation work, I focused on increases in vegetation productivity, climatic correlates, and carbon consequences at regional to global scale using remote sensing (e.g., Landsat, AVHRR, and MODIS) and in-situ measurements. I was awarded a three-year NASA Earth System Science Fellowship (2003-2006, $72, 000). My research interests include remote sensing, vegetation dynamics (e.g., woody plant proliferation), land-cover change, disturbances (e.g., fire, drought), and global carbon cycle. I am particularly interested in addressing scientific issues regarding regional and global carbon budgets through integration of remote sensing, processed-based biogeochemical modeling, field data, and statistical analysis.

Personal web: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~xiao3/