Zhiying Li, an assistant professor at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, is the latest recipient of the Fischer Faculty Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship recognizes outstanding junior faculty members who demonstrate exceptional promise in research, teaching, and service.
Established through a generous gift from Burnell “Burney” and Barbara Fischer, the fellowship is designed to support early-career faculty by providing the resources to build momentum early in their academic careers by offering resources to pursue their research agendas and publishing opportunities. As a Fellow, Li will receive a dedicated research stipend and support to further her investigation into sustainable urban development and climate resilience.
“Zhiying embodies the innovative spirit and academic rigor that the O’Neill School was built upon,” said Siân Mooney, dean of the O’Neill School. “Her work is not only technically brilliant but also provides a crucial foundation to develop informed policy. We are thrilled to name her the next Fischer Faculty Fellow and look forward to the continued impact of her scholarship on both a local and global scale.”
Li is a broadly trained physical geographer with a specialization in hydroclimatology. Her work centers on fundamental and applied questions about how climate variability and human intervention are altering the water cycle, including hydroclimatic extremes and water availability. Past research includes investigating drivers of streamflow change, predicting future streamflow patterns, quantifying changes in extreme precipitation, machine learning applications in climatology, etc. She is currently working on assessing the ability of static drought monitoring in a nonstationary climate.