About Me

First, a warm welcome to my website!

‍‍I'm a UW graduate student and a UCLA alum who is interested in a wide variety of fields: chemistry, education, atmospheric science, digital humanities, UX/UI, history, and communication. I'm a Northern California native, 1.5 generation Korean American, and a former Los Angeles transplant. 

I'm also a member of UCLA's Humans in User Experience (HUE). We work with small businesses and nonprofits in the Los Angeles area to provide human-centered design and research.

At UCLA, I studied Chemistry, Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, and Digital Humanities with a specialization in computing. There, I also fostered my continuing interest in Asian American Studies, oral histories, and feminist theory. I loved studying the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race, as well as epistemology from an ethnic studies and feminist lens. To be completely honest, Foucault changed my life!

I'm most interested in using my chemistry and technology background to tell stories about people and the environment. My broad interests span these three questions:

  • How do anthropogenic and biogenic VOCs affect air quality and the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere?
  • How do we use quantitative and qualitative data in conjunction to amplify silenced narratives? What biases go into the archival process?
  • How can we make scientific data more relevant to the public? 

Education

  • First-year graduate student at the University of Washington's Department of Atmospheric Sciences
    • September 2022 — Present
    • Working in the Turner and Thornton Labs to study biogenic volatile organic compounds through remote sensing and atmospheric modeling.
      • Interested in my research? Read more about it on my Research page.
  • B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with minors in Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences and Digital Humanities and a computing specialization
    • September 2018 — June 2022
    • Worked in the Stutz Group on atmospheric modeling of nitrous acid (HONO) and furfural using the PACT-1D model.
    • Also worked with Dr. Stan Sander and Dr. Zhao-Cheng Zeng on remote sensing of methane and carbon dioxide using JPL's CLARS-FTS instrument on Mt. Wilson.

Presentations

  • AGU Fall Meeting 2021 | Poster
    • James (Young Suk) Yoon, Zhao-Cheng Zeng, Stanley Sander: ”Investigating Aliso Canyon and Abnormally High Methane Days Using CLARS-FTS Measurements in the Los Angeles Basin”
      • Session A35B: Atmospheric Methane Measurements: Bridging Anthropogenic Emissions and Mitigation Internationally
    • Jochen Stutz, James (Young Suk) Yoon, Sol Cooperdock, Santo F Colosimo, Olga Pikelnaya and Andrea Polidori: "Furfural as a Tracer of Local Wildfires and Residential Burning in Los Angeles”
      • Session A32E: Fire and Smoke: Biomass Burning Emissions, Chemical Evolution, and Impacts on Air Quality and
        Climate II
  • 2021 UCLA Undergraduate Research Showcase | Talk
    • James (Young Suk) Yoon, Katie Tuite, Jochen Stutz: ”Investigating Surface Mixing’s Effect on HONO Chemistry Using the PACT-1D Atmospheric Model”
  • Informal Symposium on Kinetics and Photochemical Processes in the Atmosphere | Talk
    • James (Young Suk) Yoon, Katie Tuite, Jochen Stutz: ”Investigating surface mixing’s effect on HONO chemistry using the PACT-1D atmospheric model”
  • AGU Fall Meeting 2020 | Talk
    • James (Young Suk) Yoon, Katie Tuite, Jochen Stutz: ”Investigating the Effect of Surface Mixing on Boundary Layer Chemistry Using the PACT-1D Atmospheric Model”
      • Session A082: Atmospheric Oxidation Capacity Constraints: Laboratory Investigations, Field and Remote Sensing
        Observations, and Modeling Studies I
  • 2020 UCLA Undergraduate Research Showcase | Talk
    • James (Young Suk) Yoon, Katie Tuite, Jochen Stutz: ”The Role of Vertical Transport on Nitrous Acid (HONO) Chemistry in the Polluted Atmosphere”