Youxue Zhang

Youxue Zhang is the James R. O'Neil Collegiate Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Michigan, affiliated with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. His expertise spans experimental petrology, geochemistry, and volcanology. Dr. Zhang's research focuses on magmatic processes, volatile behavior in planetary bodies, and diffusion kinetics in silicate systems.

Education: B.S. (Peking University, 1982), M.A./M.Phil./Ph.D. (Columbia University, 1985–1989). Postdoctoral work at Caltech (1988–1991). Academic leadership includes roles as Jiangzuo Professor at Peking University (2005–2007) and James R. O'Neil Chair since 2010.

Research: Key areas include lunar volatile evolution, multicomponent diffusion in melts, and mechanisms of explosive eruptions. Notable contributions involve quantifying H₂O dynamics in lunar magmas and developing geospeedometry techniques for mineral growth analysis.

Awards: F.W. Clarke Medal (1993), AAAS Fellowship (2005), AGU Fellowship (2017). His work has been published in over 110 peer-reviewed articles and two books, including Geochemical Kinetics (Princeton University Press, 2008).