Dr. Zhang is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and a Faculty Fellow at the Gies Business School of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before rejoining Illinois in 2023, he was a Weather Analyst and Quantitative Researcher at Citadel hedge fund during 2020-2023, and a postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University / Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.

Dr. Zhang’s research interests revolve around climate modeling, prediction, and applications. He has conducted research on climate extremes and their socioeconomic impacts using weather & climate models, machine learning, and community datasets. Dr. Zhang received his B.S. degree from the Ocean University of China, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Yudi Mao (2024 – present)

Yudi holds a B.S. degree in Marine Science from Ocean University of China. Her recent research focuses on analyzing and improving the predictive capabilities of climate models, particularly in the seasonal to multi-year range. Outside of research, Yudi enjoys painting, playing the piano, singing, and traveling.

Megha Rao (2024 – present)

Megha graduated from Stony Brook University with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics. She is interested in investigating changes in tropical cyclone activity under various climate scenarios. She is currently working to assess tropical cyclone activity in idealized and machine-learning simulations. Outside of academics, Megha enjoys running, playing guitar, and reading science fiction.

Mingfei Ren (2024 – present)

Mingfei graduated from Tsinghua University with a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics with a minor in Software Engineering. He is interested in exploring the development mechanisms of tropical and extratropical cyclones. His other research interests include energy-related research and machine learning. Outside of research, Mingfei is a soccer enthusiast who enjoys playing and watching the sport.

Ethan Cai (2024 – present)

Ivy Gu (2025-present)

Computer Science and Statistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Computer Science and Statistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Kevin Chen (2023 – 2024)

Ryan Thammakhoune (2023 – 2024)

Computer Science and Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Now at SpaceX.

Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign