Contact Information
Title
Professor
Associate Director of Academics, JCET, UMBC
Education
Ph.D. 2008 Texas A&M University, Atmospheric Sciences
M.S. 2004 Texas A&M University, Atmospheric Sciences
B.S. 2001 Nanjing University, Atmospheric Sciences
Research and Professional Experience
2021 – present UMBC, Physics Dept. Professor
2019 – present JCET, Associate Director of Academics
2016 – 2021 UMBC, Physics Dept. Associate Professor
2014 – 2019 UMBC, Physics Dept. Graduate Program Director, ATPH
2011 – 2016 UMBC, Physics Dept. Assistant Professor
2009 – 2011 UMBC, JCET, Assistant Research Scientist
Honors Received:
2022 Mid-Career Award by UMBC College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences
2016 International Radiation Commission (IRC) Young Scientist Award
2014 NASA New (Early Career) Investigator Program Award
2007 AGU 2007 Fall Meeting Outstanding Student Paper Award
2005 Geosciences Graduate Excellence Scholarship, TAMU
Professional Interests
The Aerosol, Cloud, Radiation-Observation and Simulation (ACROS) group is led by Dr. Zhibo Zhang at the Physics Department of UMBC. Our research focuses on observing, understanding and describing the interactions between aerosol, cloud and radiation, and studying the implications of their interactions for global warming, climate change, air quality and weather. Our research is supported by grants and funding from NASA, the Department of Energy (DOE), NSF, and Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) of UMBC.
Aerosol and cloud are major modulators of Earth’s radiative energy budget. One branch of our research is to use observations from remote sensing techniques (e.g., NASA’s A-Train and DOE’s ARM) to better understand the microphysical and optical properties of aerosols and clouds, and thereby quantify their roles in Earth’s radiative energy budget.
Aerosol particles, clouds and radiation can interact with each other in a variety of fascinating ways. A recent research direction of our group is to understand how seasonal smoke aerosols originating from the bio-massing burning activities in African interact with the low-level Marine Boundary Layer clouds and radiation in the Southeast Atlantic region.
We rely on global and regional climate models to analyze the current and predict the future climate. Aerosols and clouds are still not adequately represented in the current climate models, resulting significant uncertainties in our projection of future climate change due to global warming. Another objective of our research is to use aerosol and cloud observations from satellite and ground based remote sensing techniques to evaluate and improve aerosol and cloud simulations in climate models.
We are always looking for excellent postdoctoral scholars and students of all levels to join my group. Please check for openings and opportunities in our group.
Selected Publications
Zhibo Zhang’s Google Scholar site
Aerosol, Cloud, Radiation-Observation and Simulation Group’s publications page