Current and Past Projects
Current Projects
Duration: 08/1/2018- 07/30/2023
        Funding: NSF - NNA
MSB-FRA: NSF - NNA: Collaborative Research: MSB-FRA: Peat Expansion in Arctic Tundra - Pattern, Process, and the Implication for the Carbon Cycle (TundraPEAT)
(PI in collaboration with Julie Loisel, Texas A&M University; Philip Camill, Bowdoin College; Steve Frolking, University of New Hampshire; Zicheng Yu, Lehigh University)
Award: $304,493
Duration: 08/05/2021- 08/04/2024
        Funding: NASA
The role of boreal wildfires in the global carbon budget: A process-based analysis using satellite-derived fire burn severity data
(PI in collaboration with Nancy French at Michigan Tech. and Ron Prinn at MIT)
Award: $675,583
Duration:  11/01/2022- 10/31/2025
        Funding:  NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program
Role of linked hydrological, permafrost, ground ice, and land cover changes in regional carbon balance across boreal and arctic landscapes
(Lead PI in collaboration with Tamara Harms at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Mark (Torre) Jorgenson at Alaska Ecoscience and Neal Pastick at USGS)
Award: $913,015
Duration:  9/1/2022 – 8/31/2024
        Funding: Federal Aviation Administration
Direct and indirect land use change emissions due to SAF and PTL Pathways: Data and model improvements and role of soil organic carbon
(Qianlai Zhuang, CoPI in collaboration with Taheripour, Farzad; van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique; Armstrong, Shalamar; Singh, Shweta; Corong, Erwin; Chepeliev, Maksym; Lusk, Jayson)
Award: $ 789,688
Duration: 01/2021 - 08/2026 
        Funding: Finnish Academy of Science
Microbial mechanisms regulating N2O metabolism in above-ground vegetation - significant northern N2O sink?
(Dr. Zhuang as Collaborator with PI Dr. Henri Siljanen at University of Eastern Finland)
Award: Dollar Amount of the Project
Duration: 03/2020 - 02/2023
        Funding: UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Past methane from lakes in Alaska: Integrating proxy records and models
(Dr. Zhuang as Collaborator with PI Dr. Maarten van Hardenbroek at Newcastle University, Co-I: Dr. Jessica Whiteside and Prof. Mary Edwards)
Award: Dollar Amount of the Project
Past Projects
Duration: 05/01/2014 – April/30/2017
        Funding: NSF
Collaborative Research: Forest Productivity and Hydrological Patterns Regulate Methane Fluxes From Peatlands in the Amazon Basin
(Principal Investigator: Qianlai Zhuang, in collaboration with Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz at Arizona State University and Joost van Haren at University of Arizona)
Award: $103,000 out of $729,999
Duration: 08/2012-07/2015.
        Funding:  DOE.
Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Heterotrophic CO2 and CH4 Fluxes in a Peatland with Deep Soil Warming and Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment
(Qianlai Zhuang in collabration with: Scott Bridgham (University of Oregon) and Jason Keller (Chapman University))
Award: $124,370.
Duration: 09/2011-08/2014.
        Funding: DOE.
Quantifying Climate Feedbacks of the Terrestrial Biosphere under Thawing Permafrost Conditions in the Arctic
(Qianlai Zhuang in collabration with: C. A. Schlosser at MIT, J. M. Melillo at MBL, Woods Hole MA, and K. Anthony Walter at UAF)
Award: $540,000 out of $1,620,000.
Duration: 09/2010-08/2014
        Funding: NSF
Collaborative Research: A Paradigm Shift in Ecosystem and Environmental Modeling: An Integrated Stochastic, Deterministic, and Machine Learning Approach
(Prof. Zhuang is Lead PI in collaboration with M. Crawford, H. Zhang, D. Xiu, J. Zhang at Purdue, J. Melillo at MBL, Woods Hole MA, J. Reilly at MIT)
Award: $1,591,428 out of $1,941,424
Duration: 08/2009 - 07/2012
        Funding: NSF
Impacts of Climate Seasonality on Carbon Accumulation and Methane Emissions of Alaskan Ecosystem during the Holocene Thermal Maximum
(Purdue University, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Agronomy: Qianlai Zhuang
 In collabration with: Z. Yu, B. Felzer, and M. Jones)
Award: $202,918 out of $602,386
Duration: 09/2008 - 08/2013
        Funding: Department of Energy / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 
Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions
(Purdue University, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Agronomy: Qianlai Zhuang
 In collabration with: Bill RIley, Mac Post, and Margaret Torn)
Award: $75,000
Duration: 04/2009-03/2012
        Funding: NASA Land-Use and Land-cover Change Program 
Changes of Land Cover and Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Emission in Northern Eurasia: Impacts on Human Adaptation and Quality of Life at Regional and Golden Scales
(Purdue University, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Agronomy: Qianlai Zhuang
 In collabration with: J. M. Melillo, D. Kicklighter, J. Reilly, A. Shvidenko, N. Tchebakova, E. Parfenova, A. Peregon, A. Sirin, S. Maksyutov, and G. Zhou)
Award: $824,701
Duration: 01/2007 - 12/2011
        Funding: National Science Foundation 
Collaborative Research: Impact of Permafrost Degradation on Carbon and Water in Boreal Ecosystem
(Lead Institution - Purdue University: Qianlai Zhuang
 The United States Geological Survey (USGS - Menlo Park): Dr. Jennifer Harden
 The United States Geological Survey (USGS - Denver): Dr. Robert Striegl
 University Alaska Fairbanks: Dr. Yuri Shur
 Alaska Ecological Surveys: Dr. Torre Jorgenson)
Award: $756,578 out of $1,693,883
Duration: 07/2008 - 07/2011
        Funding: Department of Energy 
Quantifying Climate Feedback From Abrupt Changes in High-Latitude Trace-Gas Emissions
(Purdue University, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Agronomy: Qianlai Zhuang
 MIT: A. Schlosser 
 Marine Biological Laboratory: Jerry Melillo
 University Alaska Fairbanks: K. Walter)
Award: $89,999 to $560,000
Duration:  09/2007 - 09/2010
        Funding: Department of Energy 
Analysis of Global Economic and Environmental Impacts of a Substantial Increase in Bioenergy Productions
(Purdue University: Qianlai Zhuang
 Purdue University: Wally Tyner
 Purdue University: Thomas Hertel)
Award: $209,900 out of $659,783
Duration: 09/2007 - 09/2010 
        Funding: NASA 
Improving a Process-based Biogeochemistry Model Using an Atmospheric Transport Chemistry Model and In-Situ and Remotely-Sensed Terrestrial and Atmospheric Data
(Lead Institution - Purdue University: Qianlai Zhuang, Jinyun Tang)
Award: $84,000
Duration: 01/2006 - 12/2008
        Funding: National Science Foundation 
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis Towards an adequate quantification of CH4 emissions from land ecosystems: Integrating field and in-situ observations, satellite data, and modeling
(
Purdue University
 Qianlai Zhuang, qzhuang at purdue.edu
Marine Biological Laboratory
 Jerry Melillo, jmelillo at mbl.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Ron Prinn, rprinn at mit.edu
University of Alaska Fairbanks 
 David McGuire, ffadm at uaf.edu
Award: $103,350
Duration: 08/2005 - 09/2008
        Funding: National Science Foundation 
Collaborative Research: Synthesis of Artic System Carbon Cycle Research through Model-data fusion studies using atmospheric inversion and process-based approaches
(
Bruce Peterson: Peterson at mbl.edu
Jim McClelland: jmcclelland at mbl.edu
Dave Kicklighter:dkick at mbl.edu
Award: $245,883 out of $1,179,591
Duration: 01/2007 - 12/2007 
        Funding: The Energy Center, Discovery Park, Purdue University 
Global Biomass and Bioenergy Supply in a Coupled Natural and Human System
(Purdue University, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Agronomy
 Qianlai Zhuang
 Purdue University, Agricultural economics 
 Dr. Wally Tyner)
Award: $50,000
Duration: 01/2007  - 12/2007
        Funding: The Center for Environment, Purdue University 
Quantifying Carbon Sequestrations across Indiana's Forest Landscapes
(EAS- Qianlai Zhuang
 ENR- Guofan Shao
 Phillip Pope
 Charles Michler
 School of Civil Engineering-Melba Crawford)
Award: $30,000
Duration: 12/2013-12/2015
        Funding: USGS
Assessing Wetland Methane Emissions in Alaska
(PI: Qianlai Zhuang )
Award: $156,159.00
Duration: 04/2014-03/2017
        Funding: NASA
Regional and Global Climate and Societal Impacts of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Northern Eurasia: A Synthesis Study Using Remote Sensing Data and An Integrated Global System Model
(Principal Investigator: Qianlai Zhuang, Co-Investigators: Jerry Melillo, John Reilly, Andrei Sokolov, David Kicklighter, Sergey Paltsev,Erwan Monier. Collaborators: Nadejda Tchebakova, Andrey Sirin, Elena Kukavskaya, Krasnoyarsk, Mikhail Glagolev)
Award: $855,934
Duration: 08/01/2015-07/31/2018
        Funding: DOE
Understanding mechanistic controls of heterotrophic CO2 and CH4 fluxes in a peatland with deep soil warming and atmospheric CO2 enrichment
(Qianlai Zhuang (PI) in collabration with: Scott Bridgham (University of Oregon) and Jason Keller (Chapman University))
Award: $416,551 out of $1,495,783
Duration: 9/2016-8/2019
        Funding: NASA
High-resolution mapping of dynamic inundation in boreal wetlands for carbon and hydrological studies on seasonal to interannual scales
(Qianlai Zhuang, PI in collaboration with: Seung-bum Kim (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory))
Award: $152,909 out of $450,280
Duration: 07/1/2017- 06/30/2020
        Funding: NASA/U. of Colorado, Boulder
Process-level investigation of revised global methane budget based on in situ and remote sensing of atmospheric composition and the land surface
(PI in collaboration with Stefan Schwietzke, Sourish Basu; Lori Bruhwiler; Owen Sherwood; John Miller; Gabrielle Petron; Sylvia Englund Michel; Ed Dlugokencky; Pieter Tans; Giuseppe Etiope; Martin Schoell; Bell, Jennifer)
Award: $490,679 out of $1,282,569
Duration:  91/2017-8/31/2020
        Funding: NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship
High Affinity Methanotrophs are an Important Overlooked Methane Sink in the Pan–Arctic Methane Budget
(PI for Youmi Oh)
Award: $135,000
Duration:  07/10/2017 – 07/09/2019
        Funding: USGS
Quantifying Alaskan Landscape Changes and Their Impacts on Greenhouse Emissions of Carbon Dioxide and Methane
(PI in collaboration with A. D. McGuire and H. Genet)
Award: $140,000