PhD, University of Maryland
Master, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Science
Bachelor, Ocean University of China

2017- present, Associate professor, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Institute of Oceanography
2013-2016, Postdoc Associate, University of Delaware, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
2012-2013, Postdoc Associate, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
2006-2012, Research Assistant, University of Maryland

• Carbon cycle and Ocean acidification
• Biological production
• Nutrient biogeochemical reaction and transportation
• Biodiversity of diazotrophic cyanobacteria and N2-fixation
• Mitigation of harmful algal blooms

• The linkage of Typhoon to hypoxia in the Yangtze River Estuary, SJTU prospective plan, 2020-2021
• Carbon transportation from biological production, NSFC, 2017-2020
• Factors affecting cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation in the Sassafras River, HPL, 2009

Other participated projects:
• Biological investigation in the Southern Ocean, 2020-2025
• Collaborative Studies of Two Resource Ecosystems in Shelf, Slope and Oceanic Regions of the Norwegian and South-China Seas (STRESSOR), 2019-2023
• Interactions between ocean acidification and eutrophication in estuaries: Modeling opportunities and limitations for shellfish restoration. NOAA’s Ocean, 2015-2018.
• The East Coast Ocean Acidification Cruise, Acidification Program (OAP), 2015
• Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research, GCE LTER, 2014-2016
• Cyanobacterial blooms: A roadblock to estuarine restoration? NOAA, Maryland Sea Grant, 2008-2011
• Poplar Island monitoring program: Sediment and plant dynamics, Maryland Port Administration/ Maryland Environmental Service, 2007-2008

Xu Y, Cai WJ, Gao Y, 2017. Short-term variability of aragonite saturation state in the central Mid-Atlantic Bight, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112(5): 4274–4290
Li J, Glibert PM, Gao Y. 2015. Temporal and spatial changes in Chesapeake Bay water quality and relationships to Prorocentrum minimum, Karlodinium veneficum, and CyanoHAB events, 1991-2008. Harmful Algae 42:1-14.
Joesoef A, Huang WJ, Gao Y, Cai WJ. 2015. Air–water fluxes and sources of carbon dioxide in the Delaware Estuary: spatial and seasonal variability. JGR: Biogeosciences 12:6085–6101.
Gao Y, Cornwell JC, Stoecker DK, Owens M. Effects of cyanobacterial-driven pH increases on sediment nutrient fluxes and coupled nitrification-denitrification in a shallow fresh water estuary. Biogeosciences 2012, 9: 2697-2710.
Gao Y, O' Neil JM, Stoecker DK, Cornwell JC. Photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation during cyanobacteria blooms in an oligohaline and tidal freshwater estuary. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 2014, 72: 127-142
Gao Y, Cornwell JC. Influence of cyanobacteria blooms on sediment biogeochemistry and nutrient fluxes. Limnology and Oceanography, 2014, 59 (3). Doi: 10.43/lo.2014.59.3.0000

• 2017-2018 Best Reviewer of Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Journal
• 2008-2011 NOAA Sea Grant Research Fellowship, Maryland, USA
• 2006-2008 Fellowship from Center for Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland
• 2006 Best Dissertation, Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• 1998-2002 Graduate with honor in Chemistry, Ocean University of China