From left to right:
Andrew Vierbicher, Devon Kerins, Abby Knapp, Valerie Smykalov, Fiona Liu, Matt Berzonsky, Kayal Sadayappan, Li Li, Liz Andrews
Li Li, PhD, she/her
Barry and Shirley Isett Professor
Dept Civil + Environmental Engineering
Institute of Energy and the Environment
Penn State University, University Park
Phone: 814.867.0151
Email: lili at engr dot psu dot edu
@LiReactiveWater; Google Scholar
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Prospective students: I am recruiting for multiple positions for Fall 2025. Please send me an email and we will talk. A position description is here.
Short Bio: My long-term research goal is to address a broad question: What are the patterns and processes that govern water quantity and quality response to a rapidly changing climate (e.g., climate extremes, wildfire, droughts, and floods) and human perturbation (e.g., urbanization, agriculture)? Answers to this question can help predict the future of global waters. My group works at the intersection of ecology, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and environmental engineering. We use process-based models and machine learning models to understand water dynamics from watershed to global scales. Please See my Google Scholar profile for an up-to-date publication list.
I am an eco-hydro-biogeochemist / environmental engineer, broadly defined. I obtained a PhD (Environmental Engineering & Water Resources) from Princeton University in 2005, and a MSc and BSc (Environmental Chemistry) from Nanjing University, China. Before joining Penn State in 2009, I worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." - Carl Sagan
"The most important thing is to never stop questioning." - Neil deGrasse Tyson