People

Principal Investigator

Ken Zhao
Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ken leads the Carolina Dynamical Oceanography Group. His research focuses on the physical dynamics of polar oceans, coastal circulation, and geophysical fluid dynamics. Ken is currently a committee member of the international Joint Commission on Ice Ocean Interactions.

Current Group Members

Victor Hieu Nguyen

Undergraduate Researcher, UNC Chapel Hill (June 2025 – present)

Project: Dynamics of Carolina's shoals

Sarah Villhauer

Undergraduate Researcher, UCLA & REU student at Oregon State University (June 2022 – present)

Project: Dynamics of Antarctica’s melting basal channels

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Former Group Members

Kaylie Cohanim, Undergraduate Researcher, UCLA (Apr 2018 – Jul 2020)
Project: Dynamics of sea ice lead-generated eddies; Publication: Cohanim et al. 2021
Next Position: PhD Student, Princeton University

Jennifer Kosty, Undergraduate Researcher, UCLA (Aug 2020 – Aug 2023)
Project: Seal-based observations of Antarctic sub-sea ice eddies; Publication: Kosty et al. 2025
Next Position: PhD Student, Yale University