People & opportunities
A research group in the making
Launching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in January 2027, with an interdisciplinary focus on cities, buildings, energy, and climate.
Principal investigator
Xinchang "Cathy" Li
I study the local to global interactions between urban energy, climate, and humans under global change. My work develops models and data, advances understanding, and support solutions for the co-benefits of urban energy, climate, and people.
I am currently a Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and will join the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an Assistant Professor in January 2027 under the RISE-AI initiative. My group will advance human-energy-climate nexus science for sustainable and resilient urban futures through hybrid frameworks that combine AI/ML, Earth system modeling, building energy & energy systems modeling, and remote sensing.
Education
- 2025Ph.D., Civil Engineering · University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- 2019M.S., Civil Engineering · University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- 2017B.Eng., Building Services Engineering · The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Selected Honors & Awards
- 2026Rising Stars in Civil and Environmental Engineering · Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2025Engelbrecht Graduate Fellowship · University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- 2023Andrew Slater Award · NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Summer/Fall 2027
PhD student opportunities
I welcome highly motivated and curious students who want to build better ways of understanding and shaping the climate and energy future of cities. See announcement below for more details.
- Urban energy and climate
- Earth system data and model development
- Energy systems and grid resilience
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Please complete the prospective PhD student survey to share your background and research interests.
Complete the survey