Feng Tao

Feng Tao's research uses computer models, big data, and artificial intelligence to study soil carbon dynamics and help mitigate climate change. He focuses on physics-informed AI, which integrates physical principles and earth science knowledge into machine learning models. The goal is to help AI not just recognize patterns, but understand the underlying processes of the earth system, especially for predicting soil behavior that affects the climate.

Before joining Penn State, Tao was a Schmidt AI for Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, where he worked with Dean Ben Houlton on enhanced rock weathering. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from Tsinghua University in 2023, working with Prof. Yiqi Luo (Cornell) and Prof. Xiaomeng Huang (Tsinghua) on soil organic carbon and AI. He received his B.S. in Environmental Science from Sun Yat-sen University in 2018.

For more details, please check out Feng Tao’s homepage.

College of Information Sciences and Technology welcomes 11 new faculty members