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Hongjie Wang grew up near the Yellow River, the sixth largest river in the world, but even that immensity didn\u2019t prepare her for the ocean. Upon reaching the Pacific\u2019s shores for the first time as an undergrad, she says: \u201cI went to the beach. [And I learned] what \u2018massive\u2019 means.\u201d<\/p>\n
That seaside memory also included a sip of seawater\u2014more unpleasant than perspective-shifting. Yes, the ocean tasted bad, \u201chorrible\u201d even, but Wang became interested in its study and preservation. The ocean isn\u2019t unlike the Yellow River, which fundamentally shaped China\u2019s early development and history, as well as Wang\u2019s earliest research interests: \u201cI wanted to protect \u2018mother river,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
That led Wang to study environmental science at the Ocean University of China for her bachelor\u2019s degree, followed by a pivot to marine chemistry for her Master of Science at Xiamen University. There Wang acquired an interest in carbon cycling, which eventually brought her to the U.S. and Texas A&M University to study the balmy waters of the Gulf Coast for her Ph.D.<\/p>\n
Wang arrived at GSO as an assistant professor earlier this year, and though she jokes that new faculty would be better off arriving in spring, the Northeast\u2019s chilly welcome hasn\u2019t cooled her research. \u201cWhat kind of processes can impact distribution of CO2?\u201d is a basic question Wang investigates, one she\u2019s now pursuing in the Narragansett Bay. Questioning CO2 dynamics there has led this chemical oceanographer to another serendipitous discovery: kelp farming. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a brand new thing for me,\u201d Wang says excitedly. Previously she\u2019d only known kelp as a snack food. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how fast it can grow. I didn\u2019t know how people plant them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Turns out kelp may play the same helpful, oxygenating role that terrestrial plants do. \u201cYou can imagine the kelp in the ocean like a forest on the land,\u201d Wang says. <\/p>\n
Existing kelp forests already remove atmospheric carbon via photosynthesis. While \u201cthere\u2019s nothing new about kelp forests,\u201d Wang confirms, the past decade has seen an explosive interest in the algae\u2019s carbon sequestration. But Wang cautions: \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough data to know whether it\u2019s sufficient to slow down climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would large-scale cultivation of kelp be an elegant solution or an unwieldy one? Wang has been gathering data on whether kelp really is a \u201csufficient\u201d ally while working with local kelp farmers: \u201cThey can teach me a lot of things you cannot learn from a textbook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motherhood has made the need for climate solutions seem even more pressing to Wang: \u201cNow that I\u2019m a mom, I want to protect the environment for my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
That involves cultivating not only potential kelp but the next generation of oceanographers, too. Speaking as a formerly \u201cshy\u201d international student herself, Wang says her doctoral studies at Texas A&M, and the support of her colleagues then, were essential in shaping not only her career but her personality and drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe smallest things may be a big deal for international students,\u201d Wang says. But her support team in Texas \u201creally raised me up to be confident and outspoken\u2026I hope I can do the same thing for some other students in the future.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wang will be interacting with students more soon: she\u2019s been enjoying a classless schedule for her first few months at GSO, a courtesy afforded new hires. Come fall semester, however, Wang will teach her first course at GSO \u2014 OCG 110, \u201cThe Ocean Planet.\u201d It\u2019s an evocative title, and an appropriate one for someone whose experience of the ocean began, and has continued, with wonder at its vastness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hongjie Wang, Assistant Professor of Oceanography By Alexander Castro Hongjie Wang grew up near the Yellow River, the sixth largest river in the world, but even that immensity didn\u2019t prepare her for the ocean. Upon reaching the Pacific\u2019s shores for the first time as an undergrad, she says: \u201cI went to the beach. [And I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,2983],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aboard-gso","category-spring-2022"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177709,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177707\/revisions\/177709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}