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Tai-Yih Chen

Tai-Yih Chen

Research Specialist, Department of Chemistry

Biography

Tai-Yih Chen, Ph.D., is a Research Specialist in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. Chen received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in 1996, studying under F. Sherwood Rowland, focusing on the three-dimensional distribution of nonmethane hydrocarbons and halocarbons over the Northwestern Pacific and oceanic methyl iodide emissions. Their research centers on atmospheric chemistry, particularly the measurement and analysis of trace gases in urban and remote environments.

Chen has conducted extensive field research across multiple continents, including aircraft-based measurements during missions such as ABLE-3B, PEM-West A and B, TRACE-A, SONEX, ACE-Asia, ALEGRO, SARP-E, and MAGEQ. Their work has examined urban air pollution in cities including Santiago, Chile and Taipei, Taiwan, with particular attention to the role of liquefied petroleum gas leakage and vehicular emissions as sources of volatile organic compounds, contributing to urban and regional pollution. Chen has also maintained long-term atmospheric monitoring stations in remote Pacific locations, including work in Tuvalu and from the top of Alaska to the bottom on New Zealand where sampling has continued for almost five decades.

From 1999 to 2003, Chen served as an Assistant Research Fellow at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, securing approximately $2.1 million in research funding and established a trace gas analysis laboratory. They have been a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received NASA Group Achievement Awards for contributions to the ABLE-3B, TRACE-A, SONEX, and GTE/PEM-West projects. Chen has published research on topics ranging from biomass burning emissions to urban pollution sources, with his 1999 study on vehicular methyl bromide emissions featured on the cover of Geophysical Research Letters.

From 2003 to 2007, Chen served as the Advanced Laboratory Director at the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, responsible for developing curriculums in quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, instrumental analysis, assisting other faculty, and supervising all undergraduate laboratory stockroom operations. Chen taught Quantitative Analysis Lab and General Chemistry.

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Education

  • B.S. in Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, 1987
  • B.S. in Biology, University of California, Irvine, 1987
  • Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, 1996
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Distinctions

  • NASA Group Achievement Award for GTE/PEM-West project, 2000
  • NASA Group Achievement Award for ABLE-3 project, 1993
  • NASA Group Achievement Award for TRACE-A project, 1993
  • NASA Group Achievement Award for SONEX project, 1998
  • Special Session Convener and Chair, AGU Western Pacific General Meeting, Tokyo, Japan, 2000
  • Outstanding Article Award, Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, 2003-2004
  • Outstanding Student Presentation, AGU, 1996
  • Outstanding Research Program for Summer Interns, 2002
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Areas of Expertise

  • Atmospheric Chemistry
  • Nonmethane Hydrocarbon Distributions
  • Halocarbon Emissions
  • Biomass Burning Impacts
  • Urban Air Quality
  • Methane Emission Surveys
  • Liquefied Petroleum Gas Leakage
  • Sub pptv level Quantitative Analysis, Instrument Design and Fabrication

Recent Publications

  • Fontain, Vincent, Gohn, Yvanne, Chen, Tai-Yih, “Filer à l'anglaise”, Road Trip Magazine, French Edition, 2020.
  • Tsai, F., Liu, T.-H., Liu, S. C., Chen, T.-Y., Anderson, T. L., Masonis, S. J., “Model Simulation and Analysis of Coarse and Fine Particle Distributions During ACE-Asia” (opens in new tab), J. Geophys. Res., vol. 109, pp. D19S20, 2004.
  • Chang, Chih-Chung, Chen, Tai-Yih, Chou, Clock, Liu, Shaw-Chen, “Assessment of Traffic Contribution of Hydrocarbons by Using 2,2-Dimethylbutane as a Vehicular Indicator”, Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, vol. 15, pp. 697-711, 2004.
  • Chang, Chih-Chung, Chen, Tai-Yih, Lin, Chuan-Yao, Yuan, Chung-Shin, Liu, Shaw-Chen, “Effects of Reactive Hydrocarbons on Ozone Formation in Southern Taiwan” (opens in new tab), Atmospheric Environment, 2004.
  • Lee, Y.-N., Weber, R., Ma, Y., Orsini, D., Maxwell, K., Blake, D., Meinardi, S., Sachse, G., Harward, C., Chen, T.-Y., Thornton, D.C., Tu, F.H., Bandy, A.R., “Airborne Measurement of Inorganic Ionic Components of Fine Aerosol Particles Using the PILS-IC Technique during ACE-Asia and TRACE-P” (opens in new tab), Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, vol. 108, pp. 8646-8660, 2003.
  • Simpson, I. J., Chen, T.-Y., Blake, D. R., Rowland, F. S., “Implications of the Recent Changes in the Growth Rate of Tropospheric Methane” (opens in new tab), Geophys. Res. Lett, vol. 29, no. 10, 2002.
  • Chen, T-Y, Li, M-J, Wang, J-L, “Sub-second Thermal Desorption of a Micro Sorbent Trap for the Analysis of Ambient Volatile Organic Pollutants” (opens in new tab), J. Chromatography, vol. 976, no. 1-2, pp. 39-45, 2002.
  • Monod, Anne, Sive, Barkley C., Avino, Pasquale, Chen, Tai, Blake, Donald R., Rowland, F. Sherwood, “Monoaromatic compounds in ambient air of various cities : a focus on correlations between the xylenes and ethylbenzene”, Atmospheric Environment, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 135-149, 2001.
  • Chen, T.-Y., Simpson, I. J., Blake, D. R., Rowland, F. S., “Impact of the Leakage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) on Santiago Air Quality”, Geophys. Res. Lett, vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 2193-2196, 2001.
  • Wang, J.-L., Kuo, S. R., Ma, S. S., Chen, T.–Y., “Construction of a Low Cost Automated Chromatographic System for the Measurement of Ambient Methane” (opens in new tab), Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 448, no. 1-2, pp. 187-193, 2001.
  • Wang, J.-L., Ding, W.-H., Chen, T.-Y., “Source Determination of Light Non-methane Hydrocarbons by Simultaneous Multi-site Sampling in a Metropolitan Area”, Chemosphere: Global Change Science, vol. 1, pp. 11-22, 2000.
  • Simpson, I. J., Sive, B. C., Blake, D. R., Blake, N. J., Chen, T.-Y., Lopez, J. P., Anderson, B. E., Sachse, G. W., Vay, S. A., Fuelberg, H. E., Kondo, Y., Thompson, A. M., Rowland, F. S., “Nonmethane Hydrocarbon Measurements in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor During SONEX”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 3785-3793, 2000.
  • Wang, Y.H., Liu, S. C., Yu, H.B., Sandholm, S. T., Chen, T.-Y., Blake, D. R., “Influence of Convection and Biomass Burning Outflow on Tropospheric Chemistry over the Tropical Pacific”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 105, pp. 9321-9333, 2000.
  • Wang, J.-L., Lin, W.-C., Chen, T.-Y., “Using Atmospheric CCl₄ as an Internal Reference in Gas Standard Preparation”, Atmospheric Environment, vol. 34, no. 25, pp. 4393-4398, 2000.
  • Chen, T.-Y., Blake, D. R., Lopez, J. P., Rowland, F. S., “Estimation of Global Vehicular Methyl Bromide Emission: Extrapolation from a Case Study in Santiago, Chile”, Geophys. Res. Lett, vol. 26, pp. 283-286, 1999.
  • Blake, N. J., Blake, D. R., Chen, T.-Y., Collins, J. E., Jr., Sachse, G. W., Thornton, D. C., Bandy, A. R., Merrill, J. T., Rowland, F. S., “Distribution and seasonality of selected hydrocarbons and halocarbons over the western Pacific basin during PEM-West A and PEM-West B”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 102, pp. 28315-28331, 1997.
  • Blake, D. R., Chen, T.-Y., Smith, T. W., Jr., Wang, C. J.-L., Wingenter, O., Mayer, E. W., Rowland, F. S., “Three Dimensional Distribution of NMHCs and Halocarbons over the Northwestern Pacific During the 1991 Pacific Exploratory Missions (PEM-West A)”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 101, pp. 1763-1778, 1996.
  • Blake, N. J., Blake, D. R., Sive, B. C., Chen, T.-Y., Collins, J. E., Jr., Sachse, G. W., Anderson, B. E., Rowland, F. S., “Biomass Burning Emissions and Vertical Distribution of Atmospheric Methyl Halides and Other Reduced Carbon Gases in the South Atlantic Region”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 101, pp. 24151-24164, 1996.
  • Blake, D. R., Smith, T. W., Jr., Chen, T.-Y., Whipple, W. J., Rowland, F. S., “Effects of Biomass Burning on Summertime Nonmethane Hydrocarbon Concentrations in the Canadian Wetlands”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 99, pp. 1699-1719, 1994.
  • Blake, D. R., Hurst, D. F., Smith, T. W., Jr., Whipple, W. J., Chen, T.-Y., Blake, N. J., Rowland, F. S., “Summertime Measurements of Selected Nonmethane Hydrocarbons in the Arctic and Subarctic during the 1988 Arctic Boundary Layer Experiment (ABLE-3A)”, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 97, pp. 16559-16588, 1992.
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Contact Information

Email: tai.chen@uci.edu

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Last updated on 5/19/2026.