Publications & Awards

Manuscripts, presentations, fellowships, teaching

ORCID: 0009-0008-9717-116X

Manuscripts

Chen, A. Y., McKinley, G. A., Heimdal, T. H., & Fay, A. R. (2027). Evaluating the Impacts of Model Choice on Assessment of Surface Ocean pCO2 Reconstruction Skill in Climate Model Testbeds In preparation

Publication developing from Senior Thesis. See the project →

Heimdal, T. H., Ford, D. J., Keppens, M., Rogerson, J., Barton, A., Chevallier, F., Roobaert, A., Fay, A. R., McKinley, G. A., Gehlen, M., Chen, A. Y., Shutler, J. D., & LandschĂĽtzer, P. (2026). The SOCOMv2 initiative: comparison of surface ocean pCO2 data products using the CMIP6-testbed. In preparation

See the project →

Holm, H. C., Schaum, A. P., Ellis, A., Acosta, B., Chen, A. Y., Wing, B., McKinley, G. A., Dyhrman, S. T., & Hurley, S. J. (2026). Using Global Climate Models to Inform Multi-Driver Biological Ocean Experiments. https://doi.org/10.31223/X52R6W. Under review

Submitted to Global Change Biology. Pre-print available here → | See the project →

Presentations

AGU 2026 Annual Meeting

San Francisco, CA
  • Oral Presentation “Evaluating the Impacts of Model Choice on Assessment of Surface Ocean pCO2 Reconstruction Skill in Climate Model Testbeds” — Session A24F: From Physics to AI: Benchmarking, Bias Diagnosis, and Process Representation in Earth System Models
  • Poster “Global Reconstruction of Last Interglacial Sea Surface Temperatures and Their Uncertainties by an Iterated Reduced-Space Optimal Interpolation Procedure” — Session PP21C: Late Quaternary Climate and Environmental Change: Proxies, Processes, and Models

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Columbia University
Poster

Evaluating the Impacts of Model Choice on Assessment of Surface Ocean pCO2 Reconstruction Skill in Climate Model Testbeds

McKinley/Lovenduski Group Meeting

University of Colorado Boulder
Oral Presentation

“Evaluating the Impacts of Testbed Model Choice to Global Ocean Surface pCO2 Reconstruction”

Mini-Symposium on AI-based Science

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Oral Presentation

“Can Selecting Testbed (CMIP6) Models Based on the Representation of Seasonality Improve Global Surface-Ocean pCO2 Modeling?”

Geochemistry Poster Session

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Poster

“Last Interglacial Sea-Surface Temperature Reconstruction: A Preliminary Approach Using Reduced-Space Optimal Interpolation”

North America Laidlaw Scholars Conference

Brown University
Oral Presentation

“Farming Futures: Building Colorado Communities Through Environmental Stewardship”

Scholars Program Poster Presentation

Data Science Institute, Columbia University
Oral Presentation

“Visualizing Sparse Sea Surface Temperature Data From the Last Interglacial”

Four presentations on marine phytoplankton productivity

“Seasonal and Geospatial Analysis on Geochemical Ocean Conditions in Areas with High Marine Phytoplankton Productivity”
  • Oral Presentation North America Laidlaw Scholars Conference, Columbia University
  • Poster LDEO 75th Anniversary Mini Symposium
  • Poster Undergraduate Computer and Data Science Research Fair, Columbia DSI
  • Poster Undergraduate Research Symposium, Columbia University

Fellowships & awards

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Soros Fellowship for New Americans, AMS Graduate Fellowship

Applications submitted or in preparation for Fall 2026 submission

Comer Climate Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship

Columbia University · $9,600

Funds four Columbia College students for a 10-week supervised summer research project in climate, sustainability, and environmental justice.

Summer Research Fellowship: Heinrich Family Global Fellowship

Columbia College, Columbia University · $3,600

Awarded to non-seniors at Columbia College for academic excellence, supporting six weeks of independent summer research with faculty mentorship.

Data Science Institute Scholars Program

Data Science Institute, Columbia University · $3,000

Awarded mostly to master's students and a small number of highly achieving undergraduates to pursue mentored research in a data-science field over a 15-week semester.

Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Scholarship

Laidlaw Foundation · $7,600 + housing

Funds Columbia College first-years pursuing summer research, community engagement, and leadership across all disciplines. Full-time stipend across two summers, six weeks each.

Dean's List

Columbia College, Columbia University

Awarded to students with a GPA of 3.6 and above.

Valedictorian

YK Pao School, Shanghai, China · $28,000 merit scholarship

Top academic performance; voted one of two valedictorian speakers at the High School Class of 2023 graduation ceremony.

Teaching

Teaching Assistant — EESC GR4926: Introduction to Chemical Oceanography

Columbia University

Teaching Assistant — EESC UN2100: Earth's Environmental Systems: Climate

Columbia University

STEM Mentor — Roaring Cubs Collective

New York, NY
  • Mentored three New York public high-school students on writing literature reviews in climate and environmental science
  • Hosted weekly one-on-one office hours, edited student publications, and paneled coaching sessions for 100+ students