Henri F. Drake (he/him)
Assistant Professor
Email: hfdrake at uci.edu
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.
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!
Mariana Torres (she/they)
CLIMATE Justice Postbaccalaureate Fellow in ESS
Email: mariant3 at uci.edu
Mariana Torres is a recent graduate with a B.S. in Biology from Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico City. She joined the Ocean and Climate Dynamics Lab with the ESS Department in the Fall of 2023 as a Postbaccalaureate CLIMATE Justice Fellow. Mariana’s research focuses on using climate models to analyze the drivers of marine heatwaves and extreme biogeochemical events in the ocean. In her free time, she enjoys road cycling, photography, and spending time in nature. She is also very interested in community-based research and science communication.
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