Meet Siyuan Wang

CIRES scientist Siyuan Wang joined the Regional Chemical Modeling (now Atmospheric Composition Modeling) research program in November 2020.

What do you do here at CSL?

I use a variety of models (from global chemistry-climate models to high-resolution turbulence-resolving models; from 3D models to 1D column models to 0D box models) to study a variety of chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere. Currently focusing a bit on wildfires.

Where are you from/where did you grow up?

Born and raised In Xinjiang, China, I enjoy a hot/dry summer and a proper cold/snowy winter. We eat a lot of kawap (a kind of kebab) and naan back at home

What was your career path to get here?

I did my PhD in Hong Kong where I spent lots of time looking at multi-phase chemistry and halogen chemistry. Then did a postdoc in Michigan running CIMS and 0D/1D models. Then I moved to Colorado and spent 3 years at NCAR (first as an ASP postdoc then a project scientist) running 3D models (CESM and WRF). Then I moved across the town in late 2020 and joined CSL.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A rock star or a soccer star! Later in my teenage years I also wanted to become a theoretical physicist only to find out later that the math required is too much out of my league.

What were you like in high school?

On one hand I was like a typical kid wearing t-shirt of my fav band and goofing around. On the other I was also a big nerd and really into physics and chemistry as well as coding.

Name one thing about you that people wouldn't/don't expect.

About two month before my PhD defense I flew to Thailand, and joined a Muay Thai camp in Chiang Mai. I stayed in a youth hostel and trained for 6+ hours every day. I was this close to participating a local tournament but chickened out for the fear of participating my PhD defense with blackened eyes.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Playing music. Snowboarding. Also started learning woodworking (I make ugly yet structurally sound objects).

If you could hop on a plane tomorrow, where would you go?

I'd love a trip to Enceladus and see the cryovolcanoes and then dig a hole on the ice and see what's going on underneath.

If time travel existed, when would you go?

I'd travel to 1840s and Cambridge UK and talk to John Crouch Adams and ask him to send his manuscript to a Preprint so he wouldn't get scooped.

What energizes/motivates you at work?

If both my model and observations are correct and they don't agree with each other, I gain energy and jump to an excited state!

What is the best piece of advice anyone has given you?

My mom always says shut up and put one foot In front of the other. I think it's a pretty good idea.

Name one item on your bucket list.

Chevy el camino!