Minghui Diao, assistant professor of meteorology and climate science at San Jose State, has developed a project that uses aircrafts to collect data on how reflective clouds are in remote areas.
The data will show the effects reflective and unreflective clouds could have on the climate.
Diao recently received the Early Career Investigator Award after proposing the project in 2018, which focuses on the effects of clouds and aerosols on global climate change and regional air quality. Aerosols are fine particulate matter that are released into the air from things burning, such as coal, according to Diao.
Darker clouds absorb more radioactive waves compared to lighter clouds, which reflect the rays of the sun back into the atmosphere. This affects how fast or slow the climate changes depending on what specific kind of cloud it is.
“I really want to do something with a bigger picture such as global climate change and something that would be so impactful and meaningful down the way and do something good for the society,” said Diao.
As a woman in the science field, she has been able to watch the progression of more female scientists filtering through the field of atmospheric science and meteorology.
“As a first-year graduate, I was actually the only female student in my cohort within my department that year,” said Diao.“But the second and third year there were so many more female students. Probably 40 percent of them are female students so it is a good trend.”
The meteorology department currently has three female faculty members out of seven, leaving Diao prideful of the amount of women scientists with her.
Diao initiated her studies in Beijing, China, which made it difficult for her once she transitioned from studying in Chinese to English.
“I felt like I just needed to do the best even if I didn’t come from an English speaking country. That made me feel like I had to work harder. Both because I am a female student to start with and am not a native English speaker,” said Diao.
She mentioned the struggles she had reading English textbooks, as she was forced to first translate them before comprehending the material.
“When I first read textbooks I was thinking, ‘What if one day I could just read so fluently and it won’t have to be so painful reading it’ but as years went by, it got a lot better,” Diao said.
Diao has to write a proposal for any projects she wants to be funded in order to be granted money toward the study.
“When I first started writing proposals I was more worried if I’d get funded or not,” said Diao. “But now that I write them, I’m going to do this whether I get funded or not. I want to do this even if I don’t get paid to do this.”
Getting funded would benefit both her and the students she would be working alongside, allowing them to not stress about their financial stability while collecting and analyzing data.
“She’s very enthusiastic about her research and is doing an amazing job in it,” said her colleague Alison F.C. Bridger, professor and chair of the department of meteorology and climate science.
“Science should reflect the society we all come from, so you don’t have to be a white man to do science,” said Bridger.
