About

Yong Chen is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, where he also serves as Associate Dean of Curricular and Student Services in the School of Humanities. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1993. His research interests include food, US-China economic and cultural interactions, Asian-American history, and American Immigration History. Chen is the author of 'Chop Suey, USA: The Rise of Chinese Food in America,' which received honorable mention in the 2015 PROSE Awards in the category of American History, as well as other significant publications on Chinese communities and history in San Francisco. He has contributed to various projects and exhibits, including a museum exhibit on the history of Chinese restaurants in the U.S., and has been involved in digital projects on Asian communities in Ohio. Chen has served on the National Park System Advisory Board and is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Chinese Overseas. His research on Chinese American history, U.S. ethnic food, and higher education has garnered international public attention, leading to numerous media interviews and public lectures across the U.S., China, and Germany. His work on food in American culture has been featured in prominent periodicals, and he has collaborated with transnational corporations and professional organizations to share his extensive research.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Geography
• Oceanography
• Agroforestry
• Geology
• Physical geography
• Environmental protection
• Meteorology
• Climatology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• MNV-17: A High-Quality Performative Mandarin Dataset for Nonverbal Vocalization Recognition in Speech

  2026-04-21

  articleOpen access

  Mainstream Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems excel at transcribing lexical content, but largely fail to recognize nonverbal vocalizations (NVs) embedded in speech, such as sighs, laughs, and coughs. This capability is important for a comprehensive understanding of human communication, as NVs convey crucial emotional and intentional cues. Progress in NV-aware ASR has been hindered by the lack of high-quality, well-annotated datasets. To address this gap, we introduce MNV-17, a 7.55-hour performative Mandarin speech dataset. Unlike most existing corpora that rely on model-based detection, MNV-17’s performative nature ensures high-fidelity, clearly articulated NV instances. To the best of our knowledge, MNV-17 provides the most extensive set of nonverbal vocalization categories, comprising 17 distinct and well-balanced classes of common NVs. We benchmarked MNV-17 on four mainstream ASR architectures, evaluating their joint performance on semantic transcription and NV classification. The dataset and pretrained model checkpoints are publicly available<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">‡</sup> to facilitate future research in expressive ASR.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Enhanced CH4 emissions from global wildfires likely due to undetected small fires

  Nature Communications · 2025-01-18 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Monitoring methane (CH 4 ) emissions from terrestrial ecosystems is essential for assessing the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic factors leading to climate change and shaping global climate goals. Fires are a significant source of atmospheric CH 4 , with the increasing frequency of megafires amplifying their impact. Global fire emissions exhibit large spatiotemporal variations, making the magnitude and dynamics difficult to characterize accurately. In this study, we reconstruct global fire CH 4 emissions by integrating satellite carbon monoxide (CO)-based atmospheric inversion with well-constrained fire CH 4 to CO emission ratio maps. Here we show that global fire CH 4 emissions averaged 24.0 (17.7–30.4) Tg yr −1 from 2003 to 2020, approximately 27% higher (equivalent to 5.1 Tg yr −1 ) than average estimates from four widely used fire emission models. This discrepancy likely stems from undetected small fires and underrepresented emission intensities in coarse-resolution data. Our study highlights the value of atmospheric inversion based on fire tracers like CO to track fire-carbon-climate feedback.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Optimizing adversarial sample generation for traffic sign recognition models through universal perturbations

  2025-02-17

  article

  With the proliferation of autonomous driving technology, traffic sign recognition is crucial for vehicle safety. However, this component is vulnerable to adversarial attacks, highlighting the need for high-quality adversarial samples to develop robust defense strategies. Existing methods for generating such samples are often inefficient and not optimized for traffic signs. This paper addresses this by: (i) analyzing the characteristics of traffic signs, (ii) proposing a set of evaluation metrics, (iii) presenting an optimized scheme to efficiently generate adversarial traffic sign samples by selecting the most suitable generation method, and (iv) introducing universal perturbations that consider the normativity and uniformity of traffic signs, generating samples in batches based on sign classification. Our approach significantly improves efficiency, reducing generation time by approximately 80% for batches of 1,000 or more samples compared to traditional methods. Experimental results on the TSRD dataset using ResNet50 demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in rapidly producing adversarial samples while maintaining high attack performance.

  PublisherDOI

• Simulating Pyrocumulonimbus Clouds Using a Multiscale Wildfire Simulation Framework

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2025-09-25 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds, driven by extreme fires under favorable meteorological conditions, can inject smoke into the stratosphere at magnitudes comparable to those of moderate volcanic eruptions, potentially altering the global radiative balance and atmospheric composition. However, simulating pyroCb is particularly challenging in Earth system models. Using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), we developed a novel global multiscale framework to model pyroCb events in California, which includes a high‐resolution fire radiative power time series, a one‐dimensional plume‐rise parameterization, a fire‐induced vertical water vapor transport scheme, and a surface wildfire sensible heat flux representation. Our simulation successfully reproduces many pyroCb features, including cloud height, spatiotemporal evolution, and convective intensity in comparison with satellite and ground‐based observations. Sensitivity experiments show that realistic pyroCb simulation depends on vertical water vapor transport. These advances provide a basis for future exploration of pyroCb impacts at regional and global scales within climate models.

  PublisherDOI

• Model data for "Global biomass burning fuel consumption and emissions at 500-m spatial resolution based on the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED)"

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2025-10-13 · 5 citations

  datasetOpen access

  500 m fire carbon emissions and burned area as part of the publication: "Global biomass burning fuel consumption and emissions at 500-m spatial resolution based on the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED)" Dave van Wees1, Guido R. van der Werf1, James T. Randerson2, Brendan M. Rogers3, Yang Chen2, Sander Veraverbeke1, Louis Giglio4, and Douglas C. Morton5 1Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 1081 HV, The Netherlands2Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA3Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA 02540, USA4Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA5Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8411-2022 UPDATE OF DATASET TO 2023: This dataset has now been extended to 2023. Since the first release of this dataset, multiple updates to the model input data have been made: - Update from MODIS C6 to MODIS C6.1 for all MODIS input data, including MCD12Q1 land cover types, MCD14ML active fires, MCD15A2H fPAR, MOD44B VCF, MOD44W land-water mask, and MCD64A1 burned area.- Update of Hansen forest loss data from v1.9 to v1.11.- Update of GLEAM evaporative stress data from v3.6b to v3.7b.- Extension of ERA5-land data to 2023.- Addition of land cover type layers to the 500-m resolution data files. Files contain 500-m (per MODIS tile) and 0.25 degree aggregated (global grid) carbon emissions and burned area from biomass burning for 2002-2023, as part of the paper "Global biomass burning fuel consumption and emissions at 500-m spatial resolution based on the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED)" published in Geoscientific Model Development (https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8411-2022). 500-m resolution files include land cover type grids. 0.25 degree global grid files also include biome partitioning and accompanying biome fractional cover grids. Zip archives with filenames "500m_YYYY.zip" contain annual files named "Model500m_2002-2023yr_h##v##_YYYY.nc", which are the 500-meter resolution model results per MODIS tile using the MODIS sinusoidal projection. Carbon emission data layers are: - Total biomass burning carbon emissions from aboveground; g C m-2 month-1 (/MOD_Grid/emissions/C_AG_TOT) - Total biomass burning carbon emissions from belowground; g C m-2 month-1 (/MOD_Grid/emissions/C_BG_TOT) - Fire-related forest loss carbon emissions from aboveground; g C m-2 month-1 (/MOD_Grid/emissions/C_AG_FL) - Fire-related forest loss carbon emissions from belowground; g C m-2 month-1 (/MOD_Grid/emissions/C_BG_FL) Total emissions are calculated as: C_AG_TOT + C_BG_TOT. Total fire-related forest loss emissions are calculated as: C_AG_FL + C_BG_FL. Burned area data layers are: - Total burned area; fraction of 500-m grid cell per month (/MOD_Grid/burned_area/BA_TOT) - Burned area from fire-related forest loss; fraction of 500-m grid cell per month (/MOD_Grid/burned_area/BA_FL) The Zip archive with filename "025d_2002_2023.zip" contains annual files named "Model500m_2002-2023yr_025d_YYYY.nc", which are the 500-m model results aggregated to a 0.25 degree global lat-lon grid. These files contain the same variables as the 500-m files, but aggregated to 0.25 degree resolution (MOD_CMG025). Furthermore, these files include biome partitioning of emissions and burned area (MOD_CMG025BIOME) and provide accompanying biome fractional cover grids for all 20 biomes (variable 'biomes'). Biomes are listed in detail in Table S1 of the van Wees et al. (2022) paper. The biomes 'water', 'snow/ice' and 'barren' were excluded from Table S1 because of their negligible share, but are included in the files provided here for completeness.

  PublisherDOI

• Evolution Mechanisms and Potential Risks of the Ecohydrological Processes in the West Liao River Basin Under Future Climate Change Scenarios

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Shift in the Reproductive Strategies of Phragmites australis Under Combined Influences of Salinity and Tidal Level Changes

  Agronomy · 2025-06-29 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Understanding how clonal plants modulate their reproductive strategies under environmental fluctuations is critical for assessing their resilience amid rapid global change. Phragmites australis, a dominant clonal plant species in coastal wetlands worldwide, provides vital ecological and agricultural services. As coastal wetlands are currently impacted by sea level rise, P. australis faces both salinity and tidal level changes. However, the effects of the combined influences of these two abiotic factors on the reproductive strategy of P. australis remain unclear. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to examine how P. australis allocates resources between clonal and sexual reproduction under different salinity and tidal level conditions. We found increased salinity negatively impacted both sexual and clonal reproductive metrics and shifted reproductive allocation toward clonal reproduction; increasing tidal level had positive effects on the sexual reproductive metrics, but negatively affected the clonal reproductive metrics, leading to a shift toward greater allocation in sexual reproduction. Higher tidal levels could reduce the negative impact of salinity on the plant’s most reproductive metrics. These results highlighted the flexibility of P. australis in adapting its reproductive strategies to environmental changes, suggesting that it could be a promising component for sustainable wetland agriculture, offering significant economic value amid rapid global change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Global warming amplifies wildfire health burden and reshapes inequality

  Nature · 2025-09-18 · 16 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Fire emission abatement potential by shifting fire regimes in global savannas: a reassessment using the fifth version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)

  International Journal of Wildland Fire · 2025-12-19 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background Subtropical savannas account for about 70% of the world’s annual burned area (BA). A key fire management strategy in these areas involves controlled, low-intensity fires earlier in the dry season to prevent high-intensity fires later in the season. This method leads to smaller, patchier fires with lower fuel consumption (FC) than late-season fires, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Aims and methods We aim to quantify emissions and potential emission abatement from prescribed burning for global savannas by extrapolating fire seasonality shifts reported for existing projects. This is based on Global Fire Emissions Database version 5 (GFED5) which offers improved modeling of small fire extent, emission factors (EFs) and FC dynamics. Key results and conclusions The highest potential abatement was located in high-rainfall savannas in Southern Africa, South America and Central America. GFED5 emissions from savannas were 749 Tg carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2-eq) per year. Results indicate that 66–363 Tg CO2-equivalent emissions, or 9–48% of the annual emissions could be abated through early dry season (EDS)-prescribed burning, mostly through the reduction of annual BA. Our analysis indicates that the indirect warming from carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from savanna fires may be larger than the combined impact of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Leveraging additional VIIRS information to improve wildfire tracking in the western US

  Remote Sensing of Environment · 2025-12-03

  articleOpen access

  Recent record-breaking fire activity in the western US poses clear threats to humans, ecosystems, and climate. Larger and faster fires increase the challenges for fire managers and further motivate the need for improved tracking of extreme fire behavior. There are also known limitations to our current ability to monitor fires from space. These include infrequent coverage from moderate resolution ( ≤ 1 km) sensors, smoke and cloud obscuration, omission of small or low-intensity fires, and atmospheric attenuation of fire radiative power (FRP). These effects diminish our ability to quantify fire behavior and emissions, including persistent burning behind the flaming fire front, particularly in ecosystems with high fuel loads. In this study, we examined the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) imagery and data products to assess the utility of candidate fire pixels in addition to the low/nominal/high confidence 375-m fire detections already included in the active fire product. We found that these candidate pixels added 45% more daytime detections and 12% more nighttime detections for large fires in the western US 2020 fire season. Candidate fires were highly consistent with areas of flaming and smoldering fire activity identified by near-coincident airborne data as well as patterns of known active or candidate fires in sequential VIIRS overpasses, without significantly increasing false detections (commission errors). The candidate fire detections helped fill data gaps due to cloud obscuration during large fires that generated pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds. Including this additional information also impacted estimates of fire activity, increasing fire persistence by 20% and FRP by 7% across our sample. Although the contribution from candidate fire detections to total FRP was relatively small, including these additional pixels could provide a more consistent estimate of fire emissions for smoke models and air quality forecasts by filling gaps in active fire information and improving the representation of smoldering fire activity. These results demonstrate the potential to augment the standard VIIRS product with candidate fire information for known large fire events to improve fire tracking and downstream products. Such approaches to leverage additional VIIRS information may be suitable for other biomass burning regions where global fire detection algorithms provide incomplete information for specific fire types and observing conditions. • Smoke, clouds, and forest canopy cover inhibit satellite fire detection. • Including “candidate” active fire pixels can improve large fire event tracking. • Candidate fire pixels fill gaps in fire detections and increase fire persistence. • Candidate fire pixels complement known fire detections for large fire events.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• James T. Randerson

  University of California, Irvine

  118 shared

• Douglas C. Morton

  50 shared

• Louis Giglio

  University of Maryland, College Park

  46 shared

• Guido R. van der Werf

  36 shared

• Niels Andela

  32 shared

• Sander Veraverbeke

  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  22 shared

• Dave van Wees

  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  21 shared

• Joanne Hall

  University of Maryland, College Park

  20 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  Cornell University

  1993

Awards & honors

• Honorable mention in the 2015 PROSE Awards in the category o…
• Extensive coverage in the press, including the New York Time…
• 2-year planning grant ($120,000) from the National Historica…
• $25,000 grant from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for a foo…
• Invited to give lectures by the International of Association…