Current group members

Henri is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the group, meaning he manages the group, raises funds, oversees the research and outreach programs, advises and mentors students and post-docs, and teaches relevant courses in the Earth System Science department. Outside of work, he enjoys family time, hiking, running, and cooking/eating Central American food (tacos, tamales, arepas, etc).

Henri F. Drake (he/him)

Assistant Professor
Email: hfdrake at uci.edu

Link to CV

Henri F. Drake joined the Department of Earth System Science (ESS) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as an Assistant Professor in 2023. He received his B.S. in Mathematics (Honors) from Haverford College in 2015 and his PhD from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography in 2021. Prior to joining UCI, he was a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University and NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. His research interests include the dynamics and kinematics of ocean turbulence, theories of large-scale ocean circulation, the ocean’s role in the climate system, and numerical Earth System modeling. He is committed to making science more open, collaborative, and reproducible; improving diversity and inclusion in science; and producing basic and applied science that benefits the public good.

Chih-Lun Liu (he/him)

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email: chihlul1@uci.edu
Website: liuchihl.github.io

Chih-Lun’s research interests involve stratified shear instability’s role in ocean mixing. Chih-Lun is also interested in flow-topography interactions, such as island wakes and flow over ocean ridges. Using numerical simulations and theories, Chih-Lun aims to understand the complex dynamics of ocean mixing and its impact on the Earth system. Chih-Lun recently completed his PhD at Oregon State University, working with Bill Smyth on Kelvin-Helmholtz Turbulence in Complex Environments.

Ran Liu (he/him)

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email: ranl24@uci.edu

Zijie Zhao (he/him)

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email: zijiz26@uci.edu

Isba Keshwani (she/her)

PhD Student in ESS
Email: ikeshwan at uci.edu

Isba Keshwani joined the ESS department at UCI as a PhD student in the fall of 2023. She received her B.S. in Astrophysics from UCLA in 2023. She is working on modeling buoyancy driven horizontal convection systems in the ocean. In her free time she enjoys going to the beach, hiking, cooking, and hanging out with her cat!

Kaila Uyeda (she/her)

PhD Student in ESS
Email: kailau at uci.edu

Kaila joined the Ocean & Climate Dynamics lab as an ESS PhD student in fall 2024. She graduated with a B.S. in Math from Haverford College. Her research interests lie in understanding processes driving changes to overturning circulation by applying the water mass transformation framework to ocean model output. She previously worked as a research assistant in the Oceanography department at Texas A&M.

Kim Willcott (she/her)

PhD Student in ESS
Email: kwillcot at uci.edu

Kim joined UCI’s ESS program as a PhD student in Fall 2024. She received her B.S., Hons in Mathematics and Economics in 2017 and her M.S. in Mathematics in 2020, both from The University of British Columbia. She is interested in studying the relationship between melting ice sheets and ocean circulation. In her free time she enjoys climbing, baking, and testing out new coffee beans!

Rohan Vaswani (he/him)

Undergraduate Researcher in ESS
Email: rdvaswan at uci.edu

Rohan Vaswani is currently an undergraduate pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science in Earth System Science with a specialization of oceanography. Within the group, he is working on modeling Lagrangian particles within shear instability simulations. In his free time, he enjoys photography and going outdoors!

This avatar could be you—see the Opportunities page for any currently available positions!

Alumni

Mariana Torres (they/them)

Currently: Postbaccalaureate Fellow at MIT
Formerly: CLIMATE Justice Postbaccalaureate Fellow in ESS