I am Zhenyu He and I was born in a small mountainous town in China built around a national molybdenum mining enterprise. This polluted mining town in China sparked my initial interest in the environment and sustainability and ultimately climate science. I finished my bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science in the School of Physics at Peking University. Now as a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley, my research focuses on the climatic consequences of nuclear war. I modeled how soot from the resulting city fire can be lofted into the upper troposphere or even the stratosphere through intense fire-driven convection. My work aims to mitigate scientific disagreements about the severity and likelihood of nuclear winter and inform global disarmament policy.
Outside of research, I’m deeply passionate about intellectual exchange. I find joy and clarity in discussing ideas with people from diverse backgrounds by sharing, listening, and refining perspectives. These moments of deep conversation energize me. I also enjoy spontaneous, boundary-free forms of expression, like singing on an open lawn, where creativity feels natural and unconstrained.