About Me

This site is being phased out. Please visit my github page: kenxzhao.github.io

I am a NASA FINESST scholar and PhD candidate in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) Department at UCLA. I will be starting as an NSF OPP postdoctoral fellow at Oregon State University in January, 2022.

PhD advisors: Jim McWilliams and Andrew Stewart

My interests: I am a physical oceanographer who uses theory and numerics to understand geophysical flows in the ocean. My thesis work involves problems of polar ocean dynamics and how ocean circulation drive glacial melt in places where ice and ocean meet (e.g., fjords, ice shelf cavities, sea ice). I use theory and numerical methods to make progress on these problems. More broadly, I am interested by geophysical fluid dynamics and turbulence.