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Junyao Kang

IGC FELLOW    |   Global Change Center

Ph.D. Student  •   Geosciences

Research Interests: Geochemistry and geobiology; Neoproterozoic paleoenvironment reconstruction, co-evolution of life and environment through deep time.

Advisor: Dr. Shuhai Xiao

junyaok@vt.edu

Paul

Junyao graduated from Peking University, China in 2018, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology. During his undergraduate education, he participated in an independent research program to study the paleoenvironment and dolomitization process of the Neoproterozoic Weiji stromatolites in Huaibei Area, North China. He also finished a summer research internship at Stanford University, using geochemistry data to evaluate oil target intervals. These research experiences led him to pursue a Ph.D. degree in geochemistry and geobiology.

Dead zones, which are defined as coastal seawaters with an inadequate amount of dissolved oxygen (O2) to sustain animal life, have been reported from more than 400 sites worldwide and have led to the extermination or regional extinction of benthic faunas. Junyao’s research is focused on similar anoxia events in the Neoproterozoic Era, about 1000–540 million years ago.

Junyao hopes to look to the past of the Earth history in order to understand the magnitude, causes, and consequences of global scale anoxia events, which will help to obtain a long view of dead zones, to make long-term predictions, and to develop sustainable strategies to mitigate environmental threats such as dead zones.

Joining IGC IGEP, he hopes to benefit from the biological strengths of the IGC IGEP graduate program, and I can also bring a unique geological perspective and an interdisciplinary experience that involves geochemistry, ecology, and environmental geoscience.