Dr. Gao’s research interests are in the fields of atmospheric chemistry, air-sea chemical exchange and air pollution. The goals of her research are to understand the processes affecting the atmospheric composition and its impact on the ocean biogeochemical cycles and the quality of human environment. Her research has spanned many regions, from the Asian coast to the US East Coast, and from the Arctic Ocean to the Southern Ocean. Dr. Gao applies integrated approaches that combine field measurements, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling to characterize the properties of atmospheric substances and better understand the land-atmosphere-ocean interactions. Her current research projects focus on the near and far, from how urban air quality impacts human health around the metropolitan area (New York City-Newark in New Jersey) to studying the atmospheric dust and iron deposition to the Arctic Ocean, Southern Ocean and Antarctica.