Sun Kang

Kang Sun is an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and a member of the RENEW Institute at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Previously, he worked as an Atmospheric Physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and completed his PhD in Environmental Engineering at Princeton University (2015) and a B.S. in Environmental Sciences (2009) with a B.A. in Economics from Peking University.

• Education:
  • PhD, Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 2015
  • BS, Environmental Sciences, Peking University, 2009
  • BA, Economics, Peking University

Research interests focus on Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Remote Sensing, and Molecular Spectroscopy, with a particular emphasis on:

• Quantifying emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases
• Developing satellite-based tools for pollution monitoring
• Atmospheric transport modeling and inversion techniques
• Building novel instruments for atmospheric composition sensing

Research trends in recent publications show a strong focus on satellite remote sensing of nitrogen oxides, methane, and ammonia using platforms like TEMPO, MethaneSAT, and MethaneAIR. His work integrates atmospheric chemistry models with observational data to address environmental justice issues, agricultural emissions, and urban pollution patterns. Key methodologies include directional derivative analysis, proxy retrieval techniques, and geostatistical inversion.

Contact: 230 Jarvis Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260 | Phone: (716) 645-6167 | Email: kangsun@buffalo.edu