Dr. Pengwang Zhai

About

Dr. Pengwang Zhai is an associate professor in the physics department. Before he joined UMBC, Dr. Zhai had been a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow and a research scientist at SSAI. To date he has published 55 peer-reviewed papers in light scattering, radiative transfer, and remote sensing theories.

Research interests

Dr. Zhai is interested in light scattering by nonspherical particles; vector radiative transfer theory; Aerosol remote sensing with multiangle and multispectral polarimetry and lidar; aerosol remote sensing using OCO2 oxygen A band high spectral radiometer and CALIPSO lidar; ocean color remote sensing; and semianalytic model for inherent optical properties of oceans.

Teaching interests

Physics core curriculum classes in both undergraduate and graduate levels; Atmospheric physics core curriculum classes.

Education

  • Ph D, PhysicsTexas A&M University (2006)
    A Fourth-Order Symplectic Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) Method For Light Scattering And A 3D Monte Carlo Code For Radiative Transfer In Scattering Systems
  • MS, PhysicsJilin University (2001)
  • BS, PhysicsJilin University (1998)