Cheng Yang (Sunny) Yeh

UCLA Ph.D. Candidate | Physical Oceanography

Advance Fundamental Understanding of Ocean Circulation & Energy Budget
using Geophysical Fluid Dynamics theory, modeling & observations

Image of Sunny Yeh. Sunny Yeh is a Ph.D. candidate
								in atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UCLA. Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) at UCLA. I am driven by a desire to understand ocean dynamics and their broader impact on the Earth system. I am also a certified freediver and love feeling the changes of water temperature and pressure as I dive deep!


PhD research: My research focuses on constraining the dissipation of oceanic mesoscale energy [$O(100\ \mathrm{km})$, $O(10–100\ \mathrm{days})$], a critical process for understanding global ocean circulation and the Earth's climate. I am co-advised by Prof. Andrew Stewart and Prof. James McWilliams. I have been mentoring undergraduates in developing machine learning and image processing techniques for global bottom-flow prediction and submesoscale circulation estimation at ocean fronts.

Job interests: I am motivated to improve eddy parameterization in global modeling and constrain cross-scale energy transfer. I am ambitious to leverage my expertise in numerical modeling (e.g., PDE and CFD) and coastal hydrodynamics toward improving sea-level rise predictions and advancing BEM applications in fast pace.

Employment and research in Taiwan: Before Ph.D. study, I worked under the supervision of Prof. Zhi-Cheng Huang as a research assistant, focusing on nearshore dynamics research, environmental monitoring, and coastal management.

Email me at sunnyyeh@atmos.ucla.edu for collaboration, work, mentoring, or freediving!