Earth Scientist
Earth Scientist

Biography

Dr. Ying Zhang is an Earth scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, which is run through a partnership between Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland. Her work focuses on integrated assessment modeling to explore the interactions among climate, energy, water, land, and socioeconomic systems. She leads model development efforts for the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM), including advancing residential energy consumption modeling across income groups, integrating dynamic hydropower expansion in electricity generation systems, and implementing irrigation energy use by multiple fuel types in the model.

Dr. Zhang holds a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a minor in agricultural and applied economics. She previously conducted postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University on the food-energy-water nexus and has contributed to projects across Africa, the Arctic, and the United States. Dr. Zhang has authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Nature Sustainability and Scientific Reports.

Disciplines and Skills

  • Climatology
  • Econometrics
  • Hydrology
  • Hydropower
  • Integrated assessment modeling
  • Integrated systems
  • Integrated water resources management
  • Interdisciplinary studies
  • Machine learning
  • Predictive modeling
  • Statistical modeling
  • Systems modeling
  • Water resource engineering

Education

  • PhD in civil and environmental engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • MEng in civil and environmental engineering, Cornell University
  • BS in environmental sciences, Hunan University

Awards and Recognitions

  • Publication Challenge Coin, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2024
  • Certificate of Appreciation for exceptional efforts and dedication to the Young Research Workplace Environment Board (YouR-WEB) group and early career staff across the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, 2024
  • Outstanding Performance Award for planning and executing the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate mini conference, 2023

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal publications:

  • Wejnert-Depue, C., Zhang, Y., Casper, K., O’Neill, B. C., & Waldhoff, S. T. (2025). A conceptual framework for residential energy security in the context of clean energy transitions. Energy Research & Social Science, 126, 104096. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104096
  • Zhang, Y., Ou, Y., Waldhoff, S., O’Neill, B., Iyer, G., Sampedro, J., & Casper, K. (2025). Long-term decarbonization impacts on residential energy security across income groups and US states. Environmental Research Letters, 20(5), 054040. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adca4c
  • Kim, S., Eom, J., Zhang, Y., & Waldhoff, S. (2025). The impact of climate change on Korea’s agricultural sector under the national self-sufficiency policy. PLoS One, 20(1), e0313748. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313748
  • Zhang, Y., Sankaranarayanan, S., Nie, W., Zaitchik, B., & Siddiqui, S. (2024). Small-Scale Irrigation: Improving Food Security under Changing Climate and Water Resource Conditions in Ethiopia. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 150(8), 04024028. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-6190
  • Zhang, Y., Msangi, S., Edmonds, J., & Waldhoff, S. (2024). Limited increases in Arctic offshore oil and gas production with climate change and the implications for energy markets. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 6699. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54007-x
  • Chowdhury, A. K., Wild, T., Zhang, Y., Binsted, M., Iyer, G., Kim, S., & Lamontagne, J. (2024). Hydropower expansion in eco-sensitive river basins under global energy-economic change. Nature Sustainability, 7(2), 213-222. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01260-z
  • Zhang, Y., Waldhoff, S., Wise, M., Edmonds, J., & Patel, P. (2023). Agriculture, bioenergy, and water implications of constrained cereal trade and climate change impacts. PLoS One, 18(9), e0291577. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291577
  • Casper, K. C., Narayan, K. B., O’Neill, B. C., Waldhoff, S. T., Zhang, Y., & Wejnert-Depue, C. (2023). Non-parametric projections of the net-income distribution for all U.S. states for the shared socioeconomic pathways. Environmental Research Letters, 18(11), 114001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf9b8
  • Lala, J., Regassa, M. D., Zhang, Y., You, L., & Block, P. (2023). Incorporating Seasonality into an Agroeconomic Model of Ethiopia. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 149(2), 05022018. https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5785
  • Juturu, P., Conlon, T., Zhang, Y., Avraam, C., Siddiqui, S., Simane, B., & Zaitchik, B. (2023). Optimal grid expansion under future electricity demand for groundwater irrigation in Ethiopia. Energy for Sustainable Development, 72, 351-377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2022.12.006
  • Zhang, Y., Binsted, M., Iyer, G., Kim, S., Wild, T., & Zhao, M. (2022). Long-term basin-scale hydropower expansion under alternative scenarios in a global multisector model. Environmental Research Letters, 17(11), 114029. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ac9
  • Bazzana, D., Foltz, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Impact of climate smart agriculture on food security: An agent-based analysis. Food Policy, 111, 102304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102304
  • Snyder, A., Waldhoff, S., Ollenberger, M., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Empirical estimation of weather-driven yield shocks using biophysical characteristics for U.S. rainfed and irrigated maize, soybeans, and winter wheat. Environmental Research Letters, 16(9), 094007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac15ce
  • Avraam, C., Zhang, Y., Sankaranarayanan, S., Zaitchik, B., Moynihan, E., Juturu, P., Neff, R., & Siddiqui, S. (2021). Optimization-Based Systems Modeling for the Food-Energy-Water Nexus. Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports, 8(1), 4-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40518-020-00161-5
  • Zhang, Y., Riera, J., Ostrow, K., Siddiqui, S., de Silva, H., Sarkar, S., Fernando, L., & Gardner, L. (2020). Modeling the relative role of human mobility, land-use and climate factors on dengue outbreak emergence in Sri Lanka, BMC Infectious Diseases, 20(1), 649. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-020-05369-w
  • Sankaranarayanan, S., Zhang, Y., Carney, J., Nigussie, Y., Amphune, B. E., Birhanu, B, S., Zaitchik, B., & Siddiqui, S. (2020). What Are the Domestic and Regional Impacts From Ethiopia's Policy on the Export Ban of Teff?, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4: 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00004
  • Zhang, Y., You, L., Lee, D., & Block, P. (2020). Integrating Climate Prediction and Regionalization into an Agro-economic Model to Guide Agricultural Planning, Climatic Change, 158(3), 435-451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02559-7
  • Blum, A. G., Zaitchik, B., Alexander, S., Wu, S., Zhang, Y., Shukla, S., Alemneh, T., & Block, P. (2019). A Grand Prediction: Communicating and Evaluating 2018 Summertime Upper Blue Nile Rainfall and Streamflow Forecasts in Preparation for Ethiopia's New Dam. Frontiers in Water, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2019.00003
  • Zhang, Y., Moges, S., & Block, P. (2018). Does objective cluster analysis serve as a useful precursor to seasonal precipitation prediction at local scale? Application to western Ethiopia. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22(1), 143-157. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-143-2018
  • Zhang, Y., Moges, S., & Block, P. (2016). Optimal Cluster Analysis for Objective Regionalization of Seasonal Precipitation in Regions of High Spatial-Temporal Variability: Application to Western Ethiopia. Journal of Climate, 29(10), 3697-3717. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0582.1
  • Zhang, Y., Erkyihum, S. T., & Block, P. (2016). Filling the GERD: evaluating hydroclimatic variability and impoundment strategies for Blue Nile riparian countries. Water International, 41(4), 593-610. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2016.1178467
  • Zhang, Y., Block, P., Hammond, M., & King, A. (2015). Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam: Implications for Downstream Riparian Countries. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 141(9), 05015002. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000520
  • Liu, H., Hu, T., Zeng, G., Wu, J., Yang, C., Zhang, Y., & Shen, Y. (2012). Power generation using two kinds of phenolic compounds as substrates in MFC. Chinese Journal of Environmental Engineering, 6(1), 212-217.

Report:

  • Binsted, M., Suchyta, H., Zhang, Y., Vimmerstedt, L., Mowers, M., Ledna, C., Muratori, M., & Harris, C. (2022). Renewable Energy and Efficiency Technologies in Scenarios of U.S. Decarbonization in Two Types of Models: Comparison of GCAM Modeling and Sector-Specific Modeling. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1903177

Book Chapter:

  • Zhang, Y., Erkyihum, S. T., & Block, P. (2017). From projecting hydroclimate variability to filling the GERD: upstream hydropower generation and downstream releases. In Z. Yihdego, A. Rieu-Clarke, & A. E. Cascão (Eds.), The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Nile Basin: Implications for Transboundary Water Cooperation. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315160122