Yongsong HuangProfessor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
I received my B.S. in Geochemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1984, my M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from the Chengdu University of Science and Technology of China in 1987, a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Institute of Geochemistry/Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1990, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Organic Geochemistry from the University of Bristol, UK in 1997. Before coming to Brown, I worked as a Postdoc at Penn State and as a Guest Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
8. Fawcett P.J., J. P. Werne, R. S. Anderson, J. M. Heikoop5, E. T. Brown, M. A. Berke, S. Smith, F. Goff, L. Hurley, L. M. Cisneros-Dozal5, S. Schouten, J. S. S.Damsté, Y. Huang, J. Toney, J. Fessenden, G. W. Gabriel, V. Atudorei, J. W. Geissman, C. D. Allen (2011) Coupled Warming and Aridity in the American Southwest During mid-Pleistocene Interglacials. Nature 470, 518-521, doi:10.1038/nature09839.
7. #Aponte J. C., M. R. Alexandre, Y. Wang, A. J. Brearley, C. M. O'D. Alexander and Y. Huang (2011) Effects of secondary alteration on the composition of free and IOM-derived monocarboxylic acids in carbonaceous chondrites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 75, 2309-2323, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2011.01.040.
6. Tierney J.E., Russell J.M., Sinninghe Damsté, Y. Huang, D. Verschuren (2011) Late quaternary behavior of the East African monsoon and the importance of the Congo Air Boundary. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 798-807.
5. * Gao L., J. Hou, J. Toney, D. Mcdonold, Y. Huang (2011) Mathematical modeling of the aquatic macrophyte inputs of mid-chain n-alkyl lipids to lake sediments: Implications for interpreting compound specific hydrogen isotopic records. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2011.04.008.
4. #Zech R., Huang Y., Zech M., Tarozo R. and Zech W. (2011) High carbon sequestration in Siberian permafrost loess-paleosols during glacial. Climate of the Past 7. 501-509. doi:10.5194/cp-7-501-2011.
3. Herd CDK, Blinova A, Simkus DN, Huang Y, Tarozo R, Alexander CMO'D., Gyngard F, Nittler LR, Cody GD, Fogel M, Kebukawa Y, Kilcoyne ALD, Hilts RW, Slater GF, Glavin DP, Dworkin JP, Callahan MP, Elsila JE, De Gregorio BT, Stroud RM (2011) Origin and Evolution of Prebiotic Organic Matter as Inferred from the Tagish Lake Meteorite. Science 332, 1304, DOI: 10.1126/science.1203290.
2. * Toney J.L., Leavitt P.R., Huang Y. (2011) Alkenones are common in prairie lakes of Canada. Organic Geochemistry, in press.
1. * D'Andrea W. J., Y. Huang, S. C. Fritz, N. J. Anderson (2011) Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, doi/10.1073/pnas.1101708108.
16. * Nichols J., Booth R.K., Jackson S.T., Pendall E.G. and Huang Y. (2010) Differential hydrogen isotopic ratios of Sphagnum and vascular plant biomarkers in ombrotrophic peatlands as a quantitative proxy for precipitation—evaporation balance. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2009.11.012.
15. * Toney, J.L., Huang, Y., Fritz, S.C., Baker, P.A., Grimm, E., Nyren, P., (2010) Climatic and environmental controls on the occurrence and distributions of long chain alkenones in lakes of the interior United States, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2009.11.021.
13. Edwards E. J., C. P. Osborne, C. A.E. Strömberg, S. A. Smith and C4 Grasses Consortium (22 authors including Y. Huang) (2010) The Evolutionary Origins of C4 Grasslands. Science 328, 587 – 591, DOI: 10.1126/science.1177216.
12. Terwilliger V.J., Eshetu Z., Alexandre M., Gebru T., Umer M., Huang Y. (2010) Local variation in climate and land use during the time of the major kingdoms of the Tigray Plateau in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Catena, doi:10.1016/j.catena.2010.08.003.
11. * Hou J., Huang Y., Brodsky C., Alexandre M.R., McNichol A.P., King J.W., Hu F.S. and Shen J. (2010) Radiocarbon dating of individual lignin phenols: a new approach for establishing chronology of late Quaternary lake sediments. Analytical Chemistry, 10.1021/ac100494m.
10. Henderson A. K.; D. M. Nelson, F. S. Hu, Y. Huang, B. N. Shuman and J. W. Williams (2010) Holocene precipitation seasonality captured by a dual hydrogen and oxygen isotope approach at Steel Lake, Minnesota. Earth and Planatary Science Letters, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.09.024.
9. * Theroux S., D'Andrea W., Toney J., Amaral-Zettler L., Huang Y. (2010) Phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary relatedness of alkenone producing haptophyte algae in lakes: Implications for continental paleotemperature reconstructions. Earth and Planatary Science Letters, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.10.009.
14. Tierney J. E., Russell J. M., Huang Y., (2010) A molecular perspective on Late Quaternary climate and vegetation change in the Lake Tanganyika basin, East Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.11.030.
19. Russell J.M., McCoy S.J., Verschuren D., Bessems I., Huang Y. (2009) Human impacts, climate change and aquatic ecosystem response during the past 2000 yr at Lake Wandakara, Uganda. Quaternary Research, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2009.06.008
18. Gebru T., Eshetu Z., Huang Y., woldemariam T., Strong N., Umer M., DiBlasi M., terwilliger V.J. (2009) Holocene paleovegetation of the Tigray Plateau in northern Ethiopia from charcoal and stable organic carbon isotopic analyses of gully sediments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 282, 67-80.
17. * Nichols J.E., Walcott M., Bradley R., Pilcher J. and Huang Y. (2009) Quantitative assessment of precipitation seasonality and summer surface wetness using ombrotrophic sediments from an Arctic Norwegian peatland. Quaternary Research, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2009.07.007.
25. Pizzarello S., Huang Y., Alexandre M.R. (2008) Molecular asymmetry in extraterrestrial chemistry: Novel insights from a pristine meteorite. PNAS, 105, 3700-3704, 10.1073/pnas.0709909105.
24. # Liu Z., Henderson A., and Huang Y. (2008) Regional Moisture Source Changes Inferred from Late Holocene Stable Isotope Records. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 25, 1-8.
23. # Liu Z. and Huang Y. (2008) Hydrogen isotope ratios of plant leaf lipids are unaffected by a twofold pCO2 change in growth chambers. Organic Geochemistry, 39, 478-482, doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2008.01.020.
22. # Liu W. and Huang Y. (2008) Reconstructing in-situ vegetation dynamics using carbon isotopic composition of plant-derived macromolecules in the central Chinese Loess Plateau. Chemical Geology, 249, 348-356.
20. * Hou J., D'Andrea W. and Huang Y. (2008) Can Sedimentary Leaf Waxes record D/H ratios of Continental Precipitation? Field, Model and Experimental Assessments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 72, 3503-3517.
21. Tierney J. E., Russell J. M., Huang Y., J. S. Sinninghe Damsté, E. C. Hopmans, A. S. Cohen (2008) Northern Hemisphere controls on tropical Southeast African climate during the last 60,000 years. Science 322, 252-255, DOI: 10.1126/science.1160485.
38. Hostettler F.D., Wang Y., Huang Y., Cao W., Bekins B.A., Rostad C. E., Kulpa C.F., Laursen A. (2007) Forensic Fingerprinting of Oil-Spill Hydrocarbons in a Methanogenic Environment, Mandan, ND and Bemidji, MN. Environmental Forensics 8, 139-153.
37. Lindbladh M., Oswald W.W., Foster D.R., Faison E.K., Hou J., Huang Y. (2007) A late-glacial transition from Picea glauca to Picea mariana in southern New England. Quaternary Research 67, 502–508.
35. Huang Y., Clemens S.C., Liu W., Wang Y. and Prell W.L. (2007) Large scale hydrological change drove the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland and Arabian Peninsula. Geology 35, 531-534; doi: 10.1130/G23666A.
34. Levin E.M., Bud'ko S.L., Mao J.D., Huang Y. and Schmidt-Rohr K. (2007) Effect of magnetic particles on NMR spectra of Murchison meteorite organic matter and a polymer-based model system. Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 31, 63-71, doi:10.1016/j.ssnmr.01.002.
33. # Jacob J., Huang Y., Disnar J.R., Sifeddine A., Boussafir M., Albuquerque A.L.S. and Turcq B. (2007) Abrupt paleohydrological change during the last deglaciation in Northern Brazil. Quaternary Science Reviews, 26, 1004-1015.
32. * Hou J., D'Andrea W., MacDonald D., Huang Y. (2007) Hydrogen isotopic variability in leaf waxes among terrestrial and aquatic plants around Blood Pond, Massachusetts. Organic Geochemistry 38, 977–984.
30. * Hou J., D'Andrea W.J., MacDonald D., Huang Y. (2007) Evidence for water use efficiency as an important factor in determining the δD values of tree leaf waxes. Organic Geochemistry 38, 1251-1255.
29. Street-Perrott F.A., Baker P.A., Swain D.L., Ficken K.J., Wooler M.J., Olago D.O., Huang Y. (2007) Late Quaternary changes in carbon cycling on Mt. Kenya, East Africa: a landscape-ecological perspective based on multi-proxy lake-sediment influxes. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 1838-1860.
28. P. A. Barker, M. J. Leng, F. Gasse, Y. Huang (2007) Century-to-millennial scale climatic variability in Lake Malawi revealed by isotope records. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 261, 93-103.
31. Huang Y., Alexandre M.R. and Wang Y. (2007) Structure and isotopic ratios of aliphatic side chains in the insoluble organic matter of the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite. Earth and Planatary Science Letters 259, 517-525.
36. * D'Andrea W., Liu Z., Alexandre M., Wattley S., Herbert T., Huang Y. (2007) An efficient method for isolating individual long-chain alkenones for compound-specific hydrogen isotope analysis. Analytical Chemistry 79, 3430-3435, doi: 10.1021/ac062067w.
46. * Hou J., Huang Y., Wang Y., Shuman B., Oswald W., Faison E., Foster D. (2006) Postglacial climate reconstruction based on compound-specific D/H ratios of fatty acids from Blood Pond, New England. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 7, Q03008, doi:10.1029/2005GC001076.
45. Huang Y., Shuman B., Wang Y., Webb T., Grimm E.C., and Jacobson G.L. (2006) Climatic and environmental controls on the variation of C3 and C4 plant abundances in central Florida for the past 62,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaecology 237, 428-435.
44. Fang J., Chan O., Joeckel R.M., Huang Y., Wang Y., Bazylinski D.A., Moorman T.B. and Clement B. J.A. (2006) Biomarker analysis of microbial diversity in sediments of a saline groundwater seep of Salt Basin, Nebraska. Organic Geochemistry 37, 912-931.
42. Jackson S.T., Booth R.K., Huang Y., Pendall E.G., Nichols J.E., Minckley T.A. and Taylor M. (2006) Late Holocene Hydrological variability in ombrotrophic peatlands of eastern North America. PAGES 14, 26-28.
41. * Nichols J.E., Booth R.K., Jackson S.T., Pendall E.G. and Huang Y. (2006) Paleohydrologic reconstruction based on n-alkane distributions in ombrotrophic peat, Organic Geochemistry 37, 1505-1513.
39. Shuman B., Huang Y., Newby P. and Wang Y. (2006) Compound-Specific Isotopic Analyses Track Changes in the Seasonality of Precipitation in the Northeastern United States at ca. 8200 cal yr BP. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 2992-3002.
40. Hu F., Nelson D.M., Clarke G.H., Rühland K.M., Huang Y., Kaufman D.S., and Smol J.P. (2006) Abrupt climatic events during the last glacial-interglacial transition in Alaska. Geophysical Research Letters 33, L18708, doi: 10.1029/2006GL027261.
43. * D'Andrea W.J., Lage M., Hughes J.B., Laatsch A.D., Amaral-Zettler L.A., Sogin M.L. and Huang Y. (2006) Alkenone producers inferred from well-preserved 18S rDNA in Greenland lake sediments. Journal of Geophysical Research, Biogeoscience 111, G03013, doi: 10.1029/2005JG000121.
47. # Liu, Z., A. C. G. Henderson, and Y. Huang (2006), Alkenone-based reconstruction of late-Holocene surface temperature and salinity changes in Lake Qinghai, China, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L09707, doi:10.1029/2006GL026151.
57. Yang, H., Huang, Y., Leng, Q., LePage, B.A., Williams, C.J. (2005) Biomolecular preservation of Tertiary Metasequoia fossil Lagerstatten revealed by comparative pyrolysis analysis. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 134, 237-256.
55. Pizzarello S. and Huang Y. (2005) The deuterium content of individual Murchison and Murray amino acids: A case for the presolar distribution of biomolecular precursors. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 69, 599-605.
54. Huang Y., Wang Y., Alexandre M.R., Lee T., Rose-Petruck C., Fuller M. and Pizzarello S. (2005) Molecular and compound specific isotopic characterization of monocarboxylic acids in carbonaceous meteorites. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69, 1073-1084.
52. # Liu W. and Huang Y. (2005) Compound-specific D/H ratios and molecular distributions of higher plant leaf waxes as novel paleoenvironmental indicators in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Organic Geochemistry, 36, 851-860.
51. # Liu W., Huang Y., An Z., Clemens S.C., Li L., Prell W.L. and Ning Y. (2005) Summer monsoon intensity controls C4/C3 plant abundance during the last 35 ka in the Chinese Loess Plateau: carbon isotope evidence from bulk organic matter and individual leaf waxes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaecology 220, 243-254.
49. An Z., Huang Y., Liu W., Guo Z., Clemens S., Li L., Prell W., Ning Y., Cai Y., Zhou W., Lin B., Zhang Q., Cao Y., Qiang X., Chang H. and Wu Z. (2005) Multiple expansions of C4 plant biomass in East Asia since 7 Ma coupled with strengthened monsoon circulation. Geology 33, 705-708.
48. Lee X., Feng Z., Guo L., Wang L., Jin L., Huang Y., Chopping M., Huang D., Jiang W., Jiang Q., Cheng H. (2005) Carbon isotope of bulk organic matter: A proxy for precipitation in the arid and semiarid central East Asia. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 19, doi: 10.10292004GB002303.
50. * D'Andrea W.J. and Huang Y. (2005) Long-chain alkenones in Greenland lake sediments: Low δ13C values and exceptional abundance. Organic Geochemistry 36, 1234-1241.
53. # Wang Y., Huang Y., Alexander C.M.O'D, Fogel M. and Cody G. (2005) Molecular and compound-specific hydrogen isotope analysis of insoluble organic matter from different carbonaceous chondrite groups. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69, 3711-3721.
56. Tang Y., Huang Y., Ellis G.S., Wang Y., Kralert P.G., Gillaizeau B., Ma Q. and Hwang R. (2005) A kinetic model for thermally-induced hydrogen and carbon isotopic fractionation of individual n-alkanes in crude oil. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69. 4505–4520, 2005.
63. Huang Y., Shuman B., Wang Y., and Webb III T. (2004) Hydrogen isotope ratios of individual lipids in lake sediments as novel tracers of climatic and environmental change: a surface sediment test. Journal of Paleolimnology 31, 363-375.
61. Shuman, B., P. Newby, Y. Huang, and T. Webb III. (2004) Evidence for the close climatic control of New England vegetation history. Ecology 85, 1297-1310.
60. Zhang C. L., Fouke B.W., Bonheyo B.T., Peacock A.D., White D.C., Huang Y. and Romanek C.S. (2004) Lipid biomarkers and carbon-isotopes of modern travertine deposits (Yellowstone National Park, USA): Implications for biogeochemical dynamics in hot-spring systems. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68, 3157-3169.
58. Pizzarello S., Huang Y. and Fuller M. (2004) The carbon isotopic distribution of Murchison amino acids. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68, 4963-4969.
59. # Wang Y., Huang Y., Huckins J.N., Petty J.D. (2004) Compound-Specific Carbon and Hydrogen Isotope Analysis of Sub-ppb Level Waterborne Petroleum Hydrocarbons. Environmental Science and Technology 38, 3689-3697.
62. Street-Perrott F.A., Ficken K.J., Huang Y. and Eglinton G. (2004) Late Quaternary changes in carbon cycling on Mt. Kenya, East Africa: an overview of the δ13C record in lacustrine organic matter. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 861-879.
68. * Fuller M. and Huang Y. (2003) Quantifying hydrogen-deuterium exchange of meteoritic dicarboxylic acids during aqueous extraction. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 38, 357-363.
66. Hu F., Kaufman D., Yoneji S., Nelson D., Shemesh A., Huang Y., Tian J., Bond G., Clegg B. and Brown T. (2003) Cyclic Variation and Solar Forcing of Holocene Climate in the Alaskan Subarctic. Science 301, 1890-1892.
64. Yang H. and Huang Y. (2003) Preservation of lipid hydrogen isotope ratios in Miocene lacustrine sediments and plant fossils at Clarkia, northern Idaho, USA. Org. Geochem. 34, 413-423.
65. # Wang Y. and Huang Y. (2003) Hydrogen isotopic fractionation of petroleum hydrocarbons during vaporization: implications for assessing artificial and natural remediation of petroleum contamination. Applied Geochemistry 18, 1641-1651.
67. Xie S., Chen F., Wang Z., Wnag H., Gu Y. and Huang Y. (2003) Lipid distributions in loess-paleosol sequences from northwest China. Organic Geochemistry 34, 1071-1079.
73. Zhang, C. L., Q. Ye, D. Goetz, A.L. Reysenbach, A. Peacock, D. C. White, J. Horita, D. R. Cole, J. Fong, L. Pratt, J. Fang, Y. Huang. (2002) Carbon isotopic fractionations associated with thermophilic bacteria Thermotoga maritima and Persephonella marina. Environ. Microbiol. 4, 58-64.
71. Zhang C., Li Y., Wall J.D., Larsen L., Sassen R., Huang Y., Wang Y., Peacock A., White D., Horita J. and Cole D.R. (2002) Lipid and carbon isotopic evidence of methane-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in association with gas hydrates from the Gulf of Mexico. Geology 30, 239-242.
69. Huang Y., Shuman B., Wang Y. and Webb III T. (2002) Hydrogen isotope ratios of palmitic acid in lacustrine sediments record late –Quaternary climate variations. Geology 30, 1103-1106.
70. * Pond K.L., Huang Y., Wang Y. and Kulpa C.F. (2002) Hydrogen isotopic compositions of individual n-alkanes as an intrinsic tracer for bioremediation and source identification of petroleum contamination. Environmental Science and Technology 36, 724-728.
72. Pizzarello S. and Huang Y. (2002) Molecular and isotopic analyses of Tagish Lake alkyl dicarboxylic acids. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 37, 687-696.
76. Li M., Huang Y., Obermajer M., Jiang C., Snowdon L. and Fowler M.G. (2001) Hydrogen isotopic compositions of individual alkanes as a new approach for petroleum corrrelation: case studies from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Organic Geochemistry 32, 1387-1399.
74. Huang Y., Street-Perrott F.A., Metcalfe S.E., Brenner M., Moreland M. and Freeman K.H. (2001) Climate change as the dominant control on glacial-interglacial variations in C3 and C4 plant abundance. Science 293, 1647-1651.
75. Pizzarello S., Huang Y., Becker L., Poreda R.J., Nieman R.A., Cooper G. and Williams M. (2001) The organic content of the Tagish Lake Meteorite. Science 293, 2236-2239.
77. # Wang Y. and Huang Y. (2001) Hydrogen isotope fractionation of low molecular weight n-alkanes during progressive vaporization. Organic Geochemistry 32, 991-998.
81. Mandernack K.W., Kinney C., Coleman D., Huang Y., Freeman K., Bogner J. (2000) The biogeochemical controls of N2O production and emission in landfill cover soils: the role of methanotrophs in the nitrogen cycle. Env. Microbiolgy 2, 298-309.
80. Barker P.A., Perrott R.A., Street-Perrott, F.A., Huang Y. (2000) Evolution of the carbon cycle at Lake Kimilili, Mt Elgon, Kenya during the last 14,000 years. In: Paleoecology of Africa and Surrounding Island, V. 27 (Eds, K. Heine & J. Runge), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 77 – 94 (Book Chapter).
78. Huang Y., Dupont L., Sarnthein M., Hayes J.M. and Eglinton G. (2000) Mapping of C4 plant input from North West Africa into the North East Atlantic sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 64, 3505-3513.
79. Huang Y., Freeman, K.H., Wilkin R.T., Arthur M.A. and Jones A.D. (2000) Black Sea chemocline oscillations during the Holocene: molecular and isotopic studies of marginal sediments. Org. Geochem. 31, 1525-1531.
87. Bol R., Harkness D.D., Huang Y. and Howard D.M. (1999) Influence of soil processes on carbon turnover and isotopic distribution in the British uplands. European J. of Soil Science 50, 41-51.
85. Huang Y., Eglinton G., Ineson P., Bol R. and Harkness D.D. (1999) The effects of nitrogen fertilisation and elevated CO2 on the lipid biosynthesis and carbon isotopic discrimination in birch seedlings (Betula pendula). Plant and Soil 216, 35.
83. Huang Y., Freeman K.H., Eglinton T.I., Street-Perrott F.A. (1999) δ13C analyses of individual lignin phenols in the lacustrine environment: a novel proxy for deciphering the past terrestrial vegetation changes. Geology 27, 471-474.
82. Huang Y., Street-Perrott F.A., Perrott F.A., P. Metzger and Eglinton G. (1999) Glacial - interglacial environmental changes inferred from the molecular and compound - specific δ13C analyses of sediments from Sacred Lake, Mt Kenya. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 63, 1383-1404.
84. Huang Y., Li B., Bryant C., Bol R. and Eglinton G. (1999) Radiocarbon dating of aliphatic hydrocarbons: a new approach for dating the passive fraction carbon in soil horizons. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 63,1181-1187.
86. Holmes J., Street-Perrott F.A., Perrott R.A., Stokes S., Walker M.P., Huang Y., Eglinton G. and Ivanovich M. (1999) Holocene landscape evolution of the Manga Grasslands, north-wastern Nigeria: evidence from palaeolimnology and dune chronology. Journal of the Geological Society of London 156, 357-368.
90. Huang Y., Eglinton G., Hage E., Boon J.J., Bol R., Harkness D.D., Ineson P. (1998) An integrated study of dissolved organic matter and its parent grass upland soil horizons by analytical pyrolysis techniques. European J. of Soil Science 49, 1-15.
89. Street Perrott F.A., Huang Y., Perrott A. and Eglinton G. (1998) Carbon isotopes in lake sediments and peats of the last glacial age: implications for the global carbon cycle. In: Stable isotopes and integration of biological, ecological and geochemical process (H. Griffiths ed.), Bios Scientific Publisher, Oxford, 381-396. (Book Chapter)
88. Huang Y., Stankiewicz A., Eglinton G., Snape C.E., Evans B., Latter P.M. and Ineson P. (1998) Monitoring biomacromolecular degradation in a 23 yr. decomposition experiment with Calluna Vulgaris by solid state 13C NMR and py-GC/MS. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 30, 1517-1528.
92. Huang Y., Peakman, T.M. and M. Murray (1997) 8β,9α,10β-rimuane, a novel, optically active, tricyclic hydrocarbon of algal origin. Tetrahedron Letters 38, 5363-5366.
91. Street-Perrott F.A., Huang Y., Perrott A., Eglinton, G., Baker P., Khelifa L., Harkness D.D. and Olago D. (1997) The impact of lower atmospheric CO2 on tropical mountain ecosystems. Science 278, 1422-1426.
93. Huang Y., Eglinton G., Ineson P., Latter P.M., Bol R. and Douglas D.D. (1997) Absence of carbon isotope fractionation of individual n-alkanes in a 23 year field decomposition experiment with Calluna Vulgaris. Organic Geochemistry 26, 497-501.
96. R.Bol, Huang Y., Meredith J., Eglinton G., Harkness D.D. and Ineson P. (1996) 14C age and residence time of organic matter and its lipid constituents in a stagnohumic gley soil. European Journal of Soil Sciences 47, 215 222.
94. Huang Y., Murray M., Metzger P. and Eglinton G. (1996) Novel unsaturated triterpenoid hydrocarbons from sediments of Sacred Lake, Mt. Kenya, Kenya. Tetrahedron 52. 6973 6982.
95. Huang Y., Bol R., Harkness D.D., Ineson P. and Eglinton G. (1996) Post glacial variations in distributions, 13C and 14C contents of aliphatic hydrocarbons and bulk organic matter in three types of British acid upland soils. Organic Geochemistry 24, 273-287.
97. Huang Y., Lockheart M.J., Logan G. and Eglinton G. (1996) Isotope and molecular evidence for the diverse origins of carboxylic acids in leaf fossils and sediments from the Miocene Lake Clarkia Deposit, Idaho, USA. Organic Geochemistry 24, 289 299.
100. Huang Y. and Murray M. (1995) Identification of 1,6,17,21 octahydrobotryococcene in a sediment. J .Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm. 335 336.
98. Huang Y., Murray M., Metzger P. and Eglinton G. (1995) Sacredicene. a novel monocyclic C33 hydrocarbon from sediment of Sacred Lake, a tropical freshwater Lake, Mount Kenya. Tetrahedron Letters 36, 5973 5976.
99. Huang Y., Lockheart M., Collister J.W. and Eglinton G. (1995) Molecular and isotopic biogeochemistry of the Miocene Clarkia Formation: Hydrocarbons and Alcohols. Organic Geochemistry 23, 785 801.
101. Huang Y., Li T., Lockheart M. J., Peakman T. M. and Eglinton G. (1994) C26 to C32 1,3 alkanediols, a novel series of biological markers identified in Miocene (17 20 Ma) leaf fossils and sediment. Natural Product Letters 4, 15 20.
102. Huang Y., Fu J., Sheng G., Geng A. and Cheng Y. (1992) The investigation of characteristics of biomarker assemblages and their precursors in Damintun ultra high wax oils and related source rocks. Organic Geochemistry 19, 29 39.
26. * Nichols J.E. and Huang Y. (2007) C23 to C31 n-alkan-2-ones are biomarkers for genus Sphagnum in Freshwater Peatlands. Organic Geochemistry 38, 1972-1976. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2007.07.002.
27. * Hou J., Huang Y., Oswald W.W., Foster D.R., Shuman B. (2007) Centennial-scale compound-specific hydrogen isotope record of Late Pleistocene - Holocene climate transition from southern New England. Geophycial Research Letters, 34, L19706, doi:10.1029/2007GL030303.
I specialize in the development and application of organic isotope geochemistry and organic analytical chemistry to problems in the environment, paleoclimate, paleohydrology, and astrobiology. My goal is to create new approaches and applying these approaches to understanding mechanisms and solving prominent problems in continental climatic change, environmental response to climate change, analysis and separation of complex organic mixtures and in astrobiology.
I have a broad interests in the use of molecular structures and isotopic ratios of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in compound-specific organic materials from lake sediments, ocean sediments, vegetation, and meteorites. My analytical skills and understanding of organic analytical chemistry and organic geochemistry have enabled me to conduct successful research in a wide variety of fields, ranging from paleoclimatology (emphasis on continental paleoclimatology), to analytical chemistry and astrobiology. My research projects range from understanding the fundamental mechanisms and impacts of rapid climate change to the major factors that control spatial and temporal changes in C3-C4 vegetation types, as well as developing new analytical and separation techniques to study complex organic mixtures. I have established a world-class laboratory to process and measure the organic biomarkers and isotopic ratios in a wide range of samples. Major instrumentation includes, GC, GC-MS, GCIRMS, HPLC-DAD-FLD-MS.
Currently Funded Research:
NSF: Laminated west Greenland lake sediments as unique climatic and biogeochemical archives.
NSF: Collaborative research: Climate, land use, and the rise and fall of powerful Sub-Saharan African societies.
NSF: Collaborative research: Holocene drought in the North American interior.
NSF: Abrupt Climate Change during Marine Isotope Stage 3 in Southern Tropical Africa: Multiproxy Reconstructions from Lake Tanganyika.
NSF: Acquisition of a high performance liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS).
NSF: Collaborative Research: Ecosystem Responses to Progressive and Rapid Climate Change During the Holocene in New England.
NASA: New insight to the prebiotic chemical evolution from advanced molecular and compound-specific isotopic analyses of carbonaceous chondrites.
NSF: High resolution, quantitative records of temperature and effective precipitation for the past 25 kyr from Lake Qinghai.
NOAA: High-frequency variations in the Indian Ocean Dipole during the past millennium reconstructed from East African and Indonesian lake sediment cores.
Other funding to Brown with my participation/contribution
NSF: I am one of the co-PIs for "Acquisition of a high resolution mass spectrometer" to Chemistry Department.
LUCE Foundation: I am one of the co-PIs for "Enhancing the Flow of North-South Environmental Knowledge.