Welcome

Hi there! My name is Zhuomin (Jasmine) Chen. I am currently a Research Scientist at the University of Connecticut, Department of Marine Sciences. I am a physical oceanographer by training, but now with a diverse interdisciplinary background encompassing expertise in physical oceanography, marine biogeochemistry, ecology, and earth system modeling.

I am thrilled to share our very recent exciting work about predicting marine habitat shifts on interannual-to-decadal timescales using CESM-DPLE model simulations, which has just been published at Nature Communications: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45016-5.

Also, here is an excellent commentary on our work at Nature Communications as well by Dr. Mark R. Payne from National Center for Climate Research, Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45020-9.

My research interests include:

  • Understanding and predicting variability of driver variables relevant to marine ecosystems;
  • Marine habitat shifts in response to the changing climate (e.g., economically important fisheries);
  • Coastal ocean processes, including marine extremes and oceanic eddies (e.g., Gulf Stream eddies);
  • Linkages between coastal ocean and large-scale climate and ocean processes (e.g., the Gulf Stream);
  • …

My Education, Research, and Teaching Experience:

2024.09-: Research Scientist in Physical & Biogeochemical Oceanography
2024.01-2024.03: Course Lecturer in Physical Oceanography
  • University of Connecticut (UConn), Groton, CT
  • I worked as a lecturer for the Spring 2024 course MARN3002 “Foundations of Marine Science” at the Department of Marine Sciences, UConn, responsible for the first half of the course (every Tuesday and Thursday), focusing on physical oceanography, e.g., stratification and mixing, equations of momentum and force balances, and ocean circulation.
2021.07-2024.08: Research Scientist in Physical & Biogeochemical Oceanography
2018.08-2021.07: Guest Student/Postdoc Fellow/Postdoc Investigator in Physical Oceanography
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Woods Hole, MA
  • I was awarded a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2020) while working with Dr. Young-Oh Kwon, Dr. Ke Chen, Dr. Paula Fratantoni (NOAA NMFS), Dr. Glen Gawarkiewicz, and Dr. Terrence Joyce about developing and evaluating a statistical forecasting system for oceanographic conditions and living marine resources over the Northeast U.S. Shelf.
  • I gave a guest lecture for the course “Coasts and Communities” at the School for the Environment, Umass-Boston, focusing on the impacts from climate change on the coastal communities, e.g., coastal ocean heatwaves, sea level rise, and storms.
2013.08-2018.10: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Physical Oceanography
  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
  • I was trained as a coastal physical oceanographer through my PhD study with Dr. Enrique Curchitser at the Earth System Modeling Lab, Rutgers. I investigated the Dynamics and Spatio-temporal Variability of the Mid-Atlantic Bight Cold Pool, as well as its potential connections with the meridional fluctuations of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Oscillation, using a high-resolution long-term ROMS model for the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (ROMS-NWA).
  • I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the courses “Explore the World’s Oceans” and “Physical Oceanography” at the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers.
2009.09-2013.06: Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with honors in Marine Science
  • Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
  • My undergraduate project is about investigation of the impacts from the construction of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge on the tidal dynamics of the Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, China, using a high-resolution FVCOM model.
  • I was an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Laboratory of Ocean Circulation Dynamics</b> (advisor: X.-E. Chen) and the Laboratory of Fluid Dynamics (advisor: G. Zheng)
  • I was an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for the courses “Fluid Mechanics” and “Thermal Dynamics” at the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, OUC.
  • I was awarded nearly all honors, awards, and scholarships for excellent performance in courses, competitions, and social activities.

Other Professional Service or Activities:

  • Journal Reviewer for Nature (1); Nature Climate Change (1); Geophysical Research Letters (2); Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (4); Continental Shelf Research (1); Fisheries Oceanography (1); Remote Sensing of Environment (1); European Geosciences Union-Ocean Sciences (3); and Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (1)
  • Proposal Reviewer for NSF-Physical Oceanography Program & NOAA (panel review)
  • Member of NOAA Climate Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative (CEFI) Northwest Atlantic Regional Ocean Modeling Team (NWA ROMT), aiming on investigating future Gulf Stream warm-core ring activities based on dynamically downscaled MOM6 future projections under multiple climate scenarios (2024-)
  • Member of NOAA Climate Program Office Marine Ecosystem Task Force, aiming on oxygen prediction using decadal prediction large ensemble ocean models (2021-)
  • Contributor to NOAA NEFSC State of the Ecosystem reports for the Mid-Atlantic and New England, providing the observation-based Gulf Stream indices and expertise on evaluating the Mid-Atlantic Bight Cold Pool (2019-)
  • Member of NOAA Climate Program Office Marine Prediction Task Force, aiming on advancing seasonal to interannual prediction of U.S. coastal environment and ecosystems (2018-2020)

Check out my latest news & research projects ›