Laura Hyesung Yang

I am a Ph.D. candidate at Daniel Jacob's lab specializing in modeling atmospheric chemistry. I use chemical transport models, satellite data, and aircraft observations to better understand tropospheric oxidant and organic chemistry. I also study the atmospheric and climate impacts of the hydrogen economy. My current research focuses on the co-evolution of a key air pollutant (NO₂) and a greenhouse gas (CO₂).

Education

Harvard University Cambridge, MA 2021- Doctor of Philosophy, Environmental Science & Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA Class of 2021 Bachelor of Science, Environmental Engineering
GPA: 4.0/4.0 (overall)

Publications

First-author

6. Yang L.H., Jacob D.J., Lin H., Dang R., Bates K.H., East J.D., Travis K.R., Pendergrass D.C., Murray L.T., 2025. Assessment of Hydrogen's Climate Impact Is Affected by Model OH Biases, Geophysical Research Letters, 52, pp. e2024GL112445. DOI: 10.1029/ 2024GL112445.

5. Yang L.H., Jacob D.J., Dang R., Oak Y.J., Lin H., Kim J., Zhai S., Colombi N.K., Pendergrass D.C., Beaudry E., Shah V., Feng X., Yantosca R.M., Chong H., Park J., Lee H., Lee W.-J., Kim S., Kim E., Travis K.R., Crawford J.H., Liao H., 2024. Interpreting Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) geostationary satellite observations of the diurnal variation in nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) over East Asia, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24, pp. 7027–7039. DOI: 10.5194/acp-24-7027-2024.

4. Yang L.H., Jacob D.J., Colombi N.K., Bates K., Shah V., Beaudry E.,Yontasca R.M., Lin H., Brewer J., Chong H., Travis K., Crawford J., Lamsal L., Koo J-H.,Kim J., 2023. Tropospheric NO₂ Vertical Profiles over South Korea and Their Relation to Oxidant Chemistry: Implications for Geostationary Satellite Retrievals and the Observation of NO₂ Diurnal Variation from Space, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23, pp. 2465-2481. DOI: 10.5194/acp-23-2465-2023.

3. Yang L.H., Hagan D.H., Rivera-Rios J.C., Kelp M.M., Cross E.S., Peng Y., Kaiser J., Williams L.R., Croteau P.L., Jayne J.T., Ng N.L., 2022. Investigating the Sources of Urban Air Pollution Using Low-Cost Air Quality Sensors at an Urban Atlanta Site, Environmental Science and Technology, *Special Issue on "Urban Air Pollution and Human Health", 56(11), pp. 7063-7073. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c07005.

2. Yang L.H., Takeuchi M., Chen Y., Ng N.L., 2021. Characterization of Thermal Decomposition of Oxygenated Organic Compounds in FIGAERO-CIMS, Aerosol Science and Technology, 55(12), pp. 1321-1342. DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2021.1945529.

1. Yang L.H., Han B.A., 2018. Data-Driven Predictions and Novel Hypotheses about Zoonotic Tick Vectors from the Genus Ixodes. BMC Ecology, 18(1), pp. 1-6. DOI: 10.1186/s12898-018-0163-2.

Co-author

13. Dang R., Jacob D.J., Wang H., Nowlan C.R., Abad G.G., Chong H., Liu X., Shah V., Yang L.H., Oak Y.J,, Marais E.A., Horner R.P., Rollins A.W., Crawford J.H., Li K., and Liao H., 2025. High-resolution Geostationary Satellite Observations of Free Tropospheric NO₂ over North America: Implications for Lightning Emissions, submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

12. Colombi N.K., Jacob D.J., Ye X., Yantosca B., Bates K., Pendergrass D.C., Yang L.H., Li K., and Liao H., 2025. Large and Increasing Stratospheric Contribution to Tropospheric Ozone over East Asia, under review by Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

11. Pendergrass D.C., Jacob D.J., Oak Y., Dang R., Yang L.H., Beaudry E., Colombi N.K., Zhai S., Kim H., Choi J.S., Park J.S., Kim S., Li K., and Liao H., 2025. Wintertime Trends of Fine Particulate Matter (PM_2.5) in South Korea, 2012-2022: response of nitrate and organic components to decreasing NOx emissions, under review by Geophysical Research Letter.

10. Westgate S., Shivji Z., Yang L.H., Rivera-Rios J.C., Ng N.L, 2024. Field Evaluation of Low-cost Particulate Matter (PM) Sensor Instruments in Indoor and Outdoor Environments: A University Lecture Hall and Urban Southeastern United States, Aerosol Science and Technology. 1-22, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2025.2484244.

9. Beaudry, E., Jacob D.J., Bates, K., Zhai, S., Yang L.H., Pendergrass D.C., Colombi N., Simpson I., Wisthaler A., Hopkins J., Ke L., Liao H., 2024. Ethanol and Methanol in South Korea and China: Evidence for Large Anthropogenic Emissions Missing from Current Inventories, ACS ES&T Air. 2(4) pp. 436-709, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.4c00210.

8. Dang R., Jacob D.J., Zhai S., Yang L.H., Pendergrass D.C., Coheur P., Clarisse L., Van Damme M., Choi J., Park J., Liu Z., Xie P., Liao H., 2024. A Satellite-based Indicator for Diagnosing Particulate Nitrate Sensitivity to Precursor Emissions: Application to East Asia, Europe, and North America, Environmental Science and Technology. 58(45), pp. 20101–20113, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c08082.

7. Lin H., Emmons L.K., Lundgren E.W., Yang L.H., Feng X., Dang R., Zhai S., Tang Y., Kelp M.M., Colombi N.K., Eastham S.D., Fritz T.M., Jacob D.J., 2024. Intercomparison of GEOS-Chem and CAM-chem Tropospheric Oxidant Chemistry within the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2), Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 24(15), pp. 8607-8624, DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8607-2024.

6. Oak Y.J., Jacob D.J., Balasus N., Yang L.H., Chong H., Park J., Lee H., Lee, G.-T, Ha E.-J, Park R.J., Kwon H.-A, Kim J., 2024. A Bias-corrected GEMS Geostationary Satellite Product for Nitrogen Dioxide Using Machine Learning to Enforce Consistency with the TROPOMI Satellite Instrument, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. 17(17), pp. 5147-5159, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5147-2024.

5. Varon D., Jervis D., Pandey S., Gallardo S., Balasus N., Yang L.H., Jacob D., 2023. Quantifying NO_x Point Sources with Landsat and Sentinel-2 Satellite Observations of NO₂ Plumes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 121(27), pp. e2317077121. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2317077121.

4. Zhai S., Jacob D.J., Pendergrass D., Colombi N., Shah V., Yang L.H., Zhang Q., Sun Y., Wang S., Luo G., Yu F., Woo J.-H., Kim Y., Kim H., Dibb J.E., Lee T., Han J.-S., Li K., Liao H., 2023. Coarse Particulate Matter Air Quality in East Asia: Implications for Fine Particulate Nitrate, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23(7), pp. 4271-4281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4271-2023.

3. Colombi N.K, Jacob D.J., Yang L.H., Zhai S., Shah V., Grange S.K., Yantosca R.M., Kim S., Liao H., 2023. Why is Ozone in South Korea and the Seoul Metropolitan Area So High and Increasing?, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23(7), pp. 4031-4044. DOI: 10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023.

2. Westervelt D., Isavulambire P., Yombo Phaka R., Yang L.H.,Raheja G., Milly G.,Selenge J-L.,Mulumba J.P., Bousiotis D., Djibi B., McNeill V.F., Ng N.L, Pope F., Mbela G., Konde J., 2023. A Low-cost Investigation into Sources of PM_2.5 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, ACS ES&T Air, 1(1), pp. 43–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.3c00024.

1. Han B.A., Yang L.H., 2016. Predicting Novel Tick Vectors of Zoonotic Disease. Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Machine Learning(ICML) Workshop on #Data4Good: Machine Learning in Social Good Applications, New York, NY, USA. arXiv preprint: arXiv:1606.06323.

Report

1. Yang L.H., Kim J., Ahn D.H., 2021. Air Pollution: An Introduction to Its Causes, Effects, and Solutions. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea & National Council on Climate and Air Quality of the Republic of Korea. Government Publications Registration Number: 11-1262000-000285-01.

Prsentations

Assessment of Hydrogen’s Climate ImpactIs Affected by Model OH Biases.
- EGU Annual Meeting, Vienna, Austria, May 2025. [oral]

Modeling of methyl hydroperoxide observations in urban and remote air over South Korea: Demonstration of high-NO and low-NO regimes for hydrocarbon oxidation, and inference of atmospheric methanediol.
- AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA, USA, January 2025. [oral]

Assessment of Hydrogen’s Climate ImpactIs Affected by Model OH Biases.
- AGU Annual Meeting, Washington DC, USA, December 2024. [oral]

Interpreting GEMS Geostationary Satellite Observations of the Diurnal Variation of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) over East Asia.
- The 11th International GEOS-Chem Meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA, June 2024. [oral]
- The 104th AMS Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, USA, January 2024. [poster]
- NASA and EPA Joint Atmospheric Chemistry Group Meeting, Remote, December 2023. [invited talk]
- The 14th GEMS Science Team Meeting, Jeju, South Korea, September 2023. [oral]

Tropospheric NO₂ Vertical Profiles over South Korea and Their Relation to Oxidant Chemistry: Implications for Geostationary Satellite Retrievals and the Observation of NO₂ Diurnal Variation from Space.
- Joint Science Meeting for TEMPO, GeoXO, & TOLNet, Huntsville, AL, USA, May 2023. [poster]
- Atmospheric Measurement Group Meeting, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA, December 2023. [invited talk]
- AGU Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA, December 2022. [poster]
- The 13th GEMS Science Team Meeting, Seoul, South Korea, November 2022. [oral]
- The 10th International GEOS-Chem Meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA, June 2022. [oral]

Understanding the Sources of Urban Air Quality Using Low-Cost Air Quality Sensors.
- The 39th AAAR Conference, Remote, October 2021. [oral]

Thermal Decomposition Characterization of Filter Inlet for Gases and AEROsols (FIGAERO) coupled with Chemical Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ToF-CIMS).
- The 37th AAAR Conference, Portland, OR, USA, October 2019. [poster]

Awards &
Achievements

2025
NSF INTERN Supplemental Funding

2021
Stonington Endowment Graduate Fellowship
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Best Undergraduate Research Award
Civil and Environmental Engineering Best Undergraduate Research Award
Buck Stith Outstanding Senior Award in Civil and Environmental Engineering

2019
President's Undergraduate Research Awards
President's Undergraduate Research Awards Travel Grant
Buck Stith Outstanding Junior Award in Civil and Environmental Engineering

2017
Georgia Tech Callaway Scholarship
President's Undergraduate Research Awards

2016
Georgia Tech Provost Scholarship
American Statistical Association special awards
Cary Institute Outstanding Young Environmental Scientist Award

Research Experience

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory La Cañada Flintridge, CA Feb. 2025 - present NSF Research Intern, Kazuyuki Miyazaki & Kevin Bowman - Tropospheric Composition Group

Harvard University Cambridge, MA Fall 2021 - present Graduate Research Assistant, Daniel Jacob's Lab - Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling

Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA Spring 2019 - Summer 2021 Undergraduate Research Assistant, Nga Lee (Sally) Ng’s Lab - Atmospheric Chemistry

Yonsei University Seoul, Korea Fall 2019 - Summer 2020 Global Internship Program Intern, Jhoon Kim’s Lab - Atmospheric Radiation

Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA Summer 2017 - Fall 2018 Undergraduate Research Assistant, Kostas Konstantinidis’ Lab - Environmental Microbial Genomics

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Millbrook, NY 2015 - 2016 High School Research Intern, Barbara Han’s Lab - Predictive Analytics of Infectious Disease

Mentorship

Jaden Southern (Stanford University, class of 2026) Summer 2024 Project: Evaluating TEMPO Satellite HCHO and NO2 Products Against Ground-Based Pandora Instruments. Co-mentor with Ruijun Dang, Yujin Oak, and Loretta Mickley. NSF REU student.

Lucy Gagnon (Williams College, class of 2024) Summer 2023 Project: Spatial and Temporal Differences in NO2 Column Densities and Implications for Geostationary Satellite Product Applications Across Asia. Co-mentor with Yujin Oak and Loretta Mickley. NSF REU student.

Teaching

EPS 200: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Teaching Fellow) Spring 2023, 2024
Harvard University

CEE 2300: Environmental Engineering Principles (Teaching Assistant) Spring 2018, 2019
Georgia Institute of Technology