People

Current Graduate Students

Kumar Bajagain (Ph.D Student, Fall 2025 -)

I got my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Physics from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, where my research focused on designing lightweight, low-cost meteorological sensors. Now I am pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, supervised by Prof. Qianlai Zhuang. My research focuses on quantifying thermokarst and permafrost degradation and their impacts on water and carbon feedback to the climate system using Earth system modeling.

Chenfan Li (Ph.D Student, Fall 2024 -)

Email: li5334@purdue.edu

I obtained my BS degrees from Anhui Agricultural University and Colorado State University in Environmental Science and in Ecological Science and Sustainability, respectively. I then did a MS degree study in Environmental Science and Policy at Johns Hopkins University. Afterwards, I interned with Farmlink Project and Nanjing University in the areas of material cycle studies. My research interests were primarily in the life and cycle of material or elements. My current research focuses on quantifying Arctic and global carbon cycling with biogeochemical models.

Zijia Wang ( PhD Student, Spring 2024 - )

Email: wang6211@purdue.edu

I received a Bachelor's degree from Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Environmental Science and a Master's degree from Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Urban Informatics & Smart Cities. Currently I am pursuing Doctorate degree in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science at Purdue University, at EBDL lab. My dissertation will focus on investigating regional and global vegetation dynamics and carbon cycling affected by various disturbances including wildfires and permafrost degradation. Satellite and remote sensing data, machine learning techniques, and process-based earth system modeling will be used in my study.

Shuo Chen (Ph.D. student, Fall 2022 - )

Email: chen4371@purdue.edu

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree from Guangzhou University in Geographical Information Science and my Master’s degree from Beijing Normal University in Safety Science and Engineering. Currently, I am working towards a Ph.D. degree in the Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Science at Purdue University, supervised by Dr. Zhuang. I am interested in earth system modeling focusing on model-data fusion studies using ecosystem and biogeochemistry models, in situ and satellite data, and machine learning techniques.

Xiangyu Liu (PhD, Fall 2021 - )

Email: liu2858@purdue.edu

I got my B.E. degree in Environmental Science from Northeastern University, China. Then I went to Georgia Institute of Technology for my M.S. degrees in both Environmental Engineering and Computational Science & Engineering, where my research area was in atmospheric chemistry modeling. Now I am pursuing my Ph.D. degree in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science at Purdue. My advisor is Dr. Zhuang. My research will use both bottom-up and top-down approaches to study the impact of greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., CH4 and CO2) and their feedbacks to the climate and human society.

Xuan Xi (PhD, Fall 2020 - )

E-mail: xi32@purdue.edu

I received my Bachelor's Degree of Engineering from Northeastern University in Communication Engineering. Then I received my M.S. degree from Columbia University in Earth and Environmental Engineering, where my research focused on the variability of surface soil moisture and its relationship with evapotranspiration and precipitation. Now I am working towards a Ph.D. degree in the EAPS department at Purdue University. My advisor is Prof. Qianlai Zhuang. My research interests are in quantifying complex hydrological, permafrost and carbon dynamics in the Arctic.