Xiyue Zhang

Xiyue (Sally) Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and serves as Associate Director of the Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Program. She holds affiliations with the Desert Research Institute and previously worked as a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University and a postdoc at NCAR. Her research focuses on climate dynamics, polar cloud feedbacks, and teleconnections between extratropical and tropical systems.

Dr. Zhang earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Caltech (2018), with prior degrees from Caltech (M.S., 2015) and the University of Washington (B.S., 2012). Her work integrates advanced modeling (e.g., large-eddy simulations) with observational data from elephant seals and satellite records.

Research highlights include groundbreaking studies on Southern Ocean cooling's global impacts, Arctic cloud representation in GCMs, and ozone-temperature relationships. Recent projects explore Antarctic sea ice dynamics and the role of meltwater in continental shelf circulation. She is currently seeking a postdoc to investigate Southern Ocean teleconnections.

Key contributions include identifying nonlinear climate responses to CO2 forcing, resolving biases in tropical albedo modeling, and quantifying snow depth declines on Arctic sea ice. Her findings have informed endangered species listings and climate policy discussions.

Dr. Zhang teaches climatology courses (ATMS/GEOG 421/621) and collaborates extensively with international research consortia. Her work has been featured in NevadaToday, Eos, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.