Haochen Li

Haochen Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, within the College of Engineering. He leads the multidisciplinary Water Infrastructure Laboratory (Ψ Lab), which focuses on advancing urban water infrastructure through high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD), physical modeling, and physics-informed machine learning (ML).

Education:

• PhD in Environmental Engineering, University of Florida, 2019
• MS in Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, 2019
• MS in Civil Engineering, University of Florida, 2015
• BS in Coastal Engineering, Hohai University, 2013

His research centers on environmental fluid dynamics, particularly multiphase and multiphysics flows in urban water systems. He investigates turbulence, particulate matter transport, pathogen fate, and chemical dynamics using advanced CFD simulations, volumetric particle image velocimetry (PIV), and AI-driven models. His lab develops open-source tools like InterAdsFoam for adsorption systems and integrates ML with CFD to optimize infrastructure design, retrofit, and regulatory frameworks.

The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward hybrid CFD-ML frameworks for water infrastructure, with applications in clarifier design, stormwater basin optimization, and real-time sensing. His work emphasizes model validation, scalability, and practical deployment, including web-based tools for engineers.

Scientific Awards:

• Rudolph Hering Medal, ASCE, 2023
• Editor choice, Journal of Environmental Engineering ASCE, 2021
• Editor choice, Journal of Environmental Engineering ASCE, 2020
• Graduate School Fellowship, University of Florida, 2015
• Academic Achievement Award, University of Florida, 2013

Haochen Li actively advises researchers and students in his lab, including Kai Liu, Mohamed Shatarah, and Ahmed Abdelmeguid. His team works on AI-empowered reactive flows, physics-informed ML, and CFD applications in energy and environmental systems. He has served as a reviewer for top journals and is a member of the ASCE/EWRI Computational Fluid Dynamics Committee. His lab is equipped with state-of-the-art HPC platforms and physical modeling facilities for experimental validation.