Bio
Kewei Chen joined the Plant-Soil Interactions group within the Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in April 2024. He specializes in modeling hydrological and reactive transport processes across inland and coastal systems, with an emphasis on understanding the fate of water and carbon under climate change. His current research focuses on integrating the land surface model ELM (Energy Exascale Earth System Model Land Model) with the reactive transport code PFLOTRAN to simulate coupled coastal carbon dynamics, including groundwater–surface water exchange, soil respiration, and lateral carbon fluxes under scenarios of sea-level rise. Kewei’s broader interests include high-resolution Earth system modeling, coastal biogeochemistry, and the use of process-based models to inform ecosystem resilience and management.