Chen, Tsing-Chang
Tsing-Chang (Mike) Chen
Dr. Tsing-Chang (Mike) Chen is a professor emeritus of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State University. He retired in 2018 after 40 years of service at Iowa State. His primary scientific interests are in climatology, atmospheric sciences, atmospheric circulation, monsoon, and meteorology. His studies deal with areas such as oceanography, precipitation, and climatology. His work on the Northern Hemisphere and Middle Latitudes as part of general Atmospheric sciences study is frequently connected to Wavenumber, bridging the gap between diverse science disciplines and establishing a new relationship between them.
Clark, A.J., Gallus Jr, W.A. and Chen, T.C., 2007. Comparison of the diurnal precipitation cycle in convection-resolving and non-convection-resolving mesoscale models. Monthly Weather Review, 135(10), pp.3456-3473.
Chen, T.C., Wang, S.Y. and Yen, M.C., 2006. Interannual variation of the tropical cyclone activity over the western North Pacific. Journal of Climate, 19(21), pp.5709-5720.
Chen, T.C.M., 2006, November. Global lightning activity observed by TRMM and monsoon onset. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Interactions (Vol. 6404, pp. 156-161). SPIE.
Chen, T.C., Wang, S.Y., Yen, M.C. and Gallus, W.A., 2004. Role of the monsoon gyre in the interannual variation of tropical cyclone formation over the western North Pacific. Weather and forecasting, 19(4), pp.776-785.
Chen, T.C. and Yoon, J.H., 2000. Interannual variation in Indochina summer monsoon rainfall: Possible mechanism. Journal of Climate, 13(11), pp.1979-1986.
Tsing-Cang (Mike) Chen remembers becoming interested in science as a small child. His father was a high school teacher and often brought his son to school when the family could not find a babysitter. When Dr. Chen was four or five years old, he would sneak into the Chemistry lab and watch the older students mix solutions. “I remember watching the two solutions combine and change colors,” Dr. Chen says. “As a child, I was absolutely fascinated; that was how I was first exposed to and became interested in science.”
As a young man, Dr. Chen had his sights set on pursuing a career in physics, and he graduated from Taiwan University with a physics degree in 1965. However, amid his studies, an advisor suggested that Dr. Chen apply his strengths in scientific interpretation to geophysics or meteorology. Dr. Chen says that he was initially uninterested in either field, but the more he learned about meteorology, the more interested he became. Following college, Dr. Chen completed two master’s degrees. The first was a Master of Sciences in Geophysics from National Central University in Taiwan in 1968. He then moved to the United States and completed a Master of Arts in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics from Johns Hopkins University in 1972. Later, he obtained a Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of Michigan in 1975.
Dr. Chen did post-doctoral work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and at MIT, where he stayed for nearly two years. Following his post-doctoral research, Dr. Chen planned to return to Taiwan, but Taiwan denied his re-entry for political reasons. Dr. Chen was involved in a church that was outspoken against Chiang Kai-shek; his father-in-law was part of the church’s clergy, and the Taiwanese government used this affiliation to bar Dr. Chen from the country. After several unsuccessful attempts to return to Taiwan, Dr. Chen accepted a teaching position at Iowa State University, where he worked for 40 years before his retirement in 2018.
Over the years, Dr. Chen has conducted several successful research projects, a fact he notes as a career highlight. His efforts have included research in energy transformation, tropical meteorology and monsoons, the global hydrological cycle, and severe weather systems in the Great Plains. In 1993, Dr. Chen and his mentor, Dr. Aksel Wiin-Nielsen, co-authored the book Fundamentals of Atmospheric Energetics, a work that became a landmark in the field. Dr. Chen’s outstanding research led his colleagues to elect him as a fellow of the American Meteorology Society, from which he has received an Editor’s Award. He also gained tenure within three years of joining the faculty at Iowa State and was eventually nominated for the school’s Distinguished Professor Award.
Dr. Chen had two great mentors: Dr. Wiin-Nielsen, with whom Dr. Chen wrote his book, and Dr. Fred Baer. Both are initially University of Michigan professors who have inspired and guided Dr. Chen throughout his career. Both men were successful in meteorology and served as excellent mentors to Dr. Chen as he shaped his career goals. Unfortunately, Dr. Chen has few opportunities to mentor young minorities at Iowa State, simply because the university does not have many minority students in meteorology. Iowa State falls short of its goal of seven to eight percent minority enrollment, Dr. Chen says. However, he notes that the university does have many international students, some of whom are in Dr. Chen’s department.
Iowa State University, located in mid-Iowa, is in a politically conservative area. Dr. Chen feels this may explain why diversity issues do not have strong roots on the campus. Dr. Chen says he has occasionally tried to become involved in campus diversity activities but was told that Asians do not qualify as a minority group.
Dr. Chen would like to interest more minorities in meteorology and other environmental sciences; he advises interested young people of color to start engaging in outdoor activities. Dr. Chen faults the U.S. educational system for not nurturing minority environmental talent. However, he notes that many universities are still eager to attract minority students, and higher-education opportunities remain for students of color.
Dr. Chen says that, ultimately, he remains in his field because the weather never stops being
interesting. Meteorology is a dynamic field with many real-world applications, as Chen illustrates with this anecdote: “In September, we had a tornado touch down right in the middle of campus. Everyone around here wanted to know why, so myself and a graduate student studied it for a month. It’s really an exciting field” (2016).
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
Iowa State University. n.d. Tsing Chang (Mike) Chen. Retrieved June 27, 2023 from https://ge-at.iastate.edu/directory/1826/.
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2005. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.