Meet Yunqian Zhu

CIRES scientist Yunqian Zhu joined the Chemistry & Climate Processes research program in August 2022.

What do you do here at CSL?

I am a research scientist on stratospheric aerosol and chemistry modeling. The part I really like is the aerosol model development. I developed aerosol models on polar stratospheric clouds formation, volcanic ash and sulfur interaction, helped to implement the tropospheric aerosol in the model too, and am continue to add more aerosol types into it.

Where are you from/where did you grow up?

I come from China, from a town that's humid and warm, opposite from Colorado.

What was your career path to get here?

I received my bachelor degree on atmospheric sciences in China and came to Boulder in 2008 for Ph.D study. I graduated in 2015. Then, I kept working as a researcher at CU Boulder, and NCAR, and then CSL.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I remember I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher when I graduated from kindergarten, because I didn't want to leave there.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I like to sit in my yard during a summer night doing nothing.

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

Before I came to US for Ph.D. my grandpa talked with me in privacy (it is the first time he talked with me very seriously). He said "doing research is different. It is all about being rigorous and honest. You cannot rush to get it done. It's not an easy path." I think he saw something in me, and I'm surprised how this short conversation supported me all these years so I didn't give up. It is special that I eventually have the same career like my grandpa and my father, feels like a continuation of my ancestral spirits.