Faculty
Dr. Hong-Yi Li, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Office Location N118 Engineering Building 1
Phone 713-743-9871 | Fax 713-743-4260
Email hli57 [at] uh.edu
Education
Ph.D., Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010
M.E., Hydrology and Water Resources, Tsinghua University, China, 2003
B.E., Hydraulic & Construction Engineering, Tsinghua University, China, 2000
Professional Experience
2023–Present: Associate Professor, University of Houston
2018–2023: Assistant Professor, University of Houston
2016–2018: Associate Professor (WOT), Montana State University, USA
2015–2016: Research Scientist III, Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA
2011–2014: Research Scientist II, Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA
2010–2011: Research Associate, Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA
2003–2005: Senior Water Resources Engineer, Beijing Tepia Technology Ltd., China
Students Supervised
Guta Abeshu
Fasil Worku
Taher Chegini
Classes
Hydrology (CIVE 4332)
Physical Models (GCEE 6320)
Watershed Hydrology and Modeling (CIVE 7397)
Other Awards and Honors
Editor’s Choice Award (co-author), Water Resources Research, 2015
Exceptional Contribution Award, 2015, Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Lab
Outstanding performance award, 2011, 2012, Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Lab
Research Interests
My research interest lies in the area of hydrological and biogeochemical modeling and analysis at the watershed and regional scales. Considering the land surface as a set of hierarchically organized watersheds and associated river systems with intertwined natural and societal functions, I am interested in developing novel modeling and data analysis tools to understand lateral transport of water, energy and biogeochemical fluxes across the land surface and through river systems under climate and human-induced changes. Given that the land surface is an integral part of the Earth System, I also pursue research aimed at understanding and representing of two-way interactions and feedbacks between human and Earth systems with a focus on the climate-water-energy-environment nexus.
Sponsored Research / Research Grant
NSF, “INFEWS: US-China – Quantify complex adaptive FEW systems with coupled agent-based modeling framework” (Amount $500,000; Co-PI with PI Ethan Yang from Lehigh University; 2018-20122)
USGS via Montana Water Center, “Deciphering the combined effects of artificial and natural water storage structures on late-season flows” (Amount $15,000; PI; 2016-2018)
DOE via Pacific Northwest National Lab, “Developing a new reservoir water temperature module within the IMMM framework” (Amount $74,044; Single PI; 2018-2019)
Presentations
- None
Selected Publications
- Lawrence, D. M., Fisher, R. A., Koven, C. D., Oleson, K. W., Swenson, S. C., Bonan, G., et al. (October, 2019). The Community Land Model version 5: Description of new features,benchmarking, and impact of forcing uncertainty. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001583.
- Mao, Y., Zhou, T., Leung, L., Tesfa, T., Li, H.-Y., Wang, K., . . . Getirana, A. (October, 2019). Flood Inundation Generation Mechanisms and Their Changes in 1953–2004 in Global Major River Basins. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031381.
- Golaz, J.-C., Caldwell, P. M., Van Roekel, L. P., Petersen, M. R., Tang, Q., Wolfe, J. D., et al. (March, 2019). The DOE E3SM coupled model version 1: Overview and evaluation at standard resolution. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001603.
- Mortuza, R., E. Moges, Y. Demissie, and H. Li (February, 2019). Historical and Future Drought Risk in Bangladesh using Bivariate Regional Frequency Analysis, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 135(3-4), 855-871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2407-7.
- Yigzaw, W., Li, H.‐Y.*, Fang, X., Leung, L. R., Voisin, N., Hejazi, M. I., & Demissie, Y. (September, 2019). A multilayer reservoir thermal stratification module for earth system models. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11, 3265–3283. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001632.
- C Li, H Lu, LR Leung, K Yang, H Li, W Wang, M Han, Y Chen (January, 2019). Improving land surface temperature simulation in CoLM over the Tibetan Plateau through fractional vegetation cover derived from a remotely sensed clumping index and model, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028640.
- X Zhang, HY Li*, ZD Deng, LR Leung, JR Skalski, SJ Cooke (April, 2019), On the variable effects of climate change on Pacific salmon, Ecological Modelling 397, 95-106, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2019.02.002