Dr. Zong-Liang Yang is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the prestigious John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Chair in Earth System Sciences. With a distinguished career in the field of climate and environmental sciences, Dr. Yang’s research focuses on understanding and modeling land surface processes and their interactions with the atmosphere.
His work spans a wide array of topics including ecohydrology, climate modeling, and the dynamics of land-atmosphere interactions. Dr. Yang is particularly renowned for his contributions to the development and application of advanced land surface models, such as the Noah-MP model, which are pivotal in improving weather forecasts, climate predictions, and hydrological simulations.
Dr. Yang’s research has been widely published in leading scientific journals, and he has been an active participant and organizer of numerous international conferences and workshops. His collaborations with researchers and institutions around the globe underscore his commitment to advancing our understanding of environmental processes and their impact on climate.
At UT Austin, Dr. Yang leads a dynamic research group that tackles pressing environmental challenges through innovative modeling approaches and interdisciplinary collaboration. His dedication to mentoring the next generation of scientists and his active engagement in the scientific community make him a leading figure in his field.
Before joining the faculty at UT Austin, Dr. Yang was a postdoc and then research faculty at the University of Arizona. He holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from Macquarie University and an M.S. in Meteorology from the University of Melbourne in Australia.