Yunyao Li

Dr. Yunyao Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Texas at Arlington. Her research focuses on wildfire air quality impacts, atmospheric composition modeling, and ensemble forecasting systems for environmental hazards. She collaborates with NOAA, NASA, and other agencies to advance predictive capabilities for air quality decision-making.

Research Interests:

• Wildfire air quality and health impact
• Real-time forecasting systems
• Data assimilation techniques
• Extreme weather-climate interactions

Her recent work analyzes multi-model ensemble approaches to improve wildfire smoke predictions, with applications in public health risk mitigation. Publications demonstrate innovations in plume-rise parameterizations, satellite data integration, and subseasonal forecasting.

Awards:

• National Center for Women & IT Educator Award (2025)
• GeoCAFE Scholar (2024)
• AGU GeoHealth Elevator Pitch Winner (2023)

Dr. Li mentors graduate students in atmospheric science projects ranging from fire plume modeling to machine learning applications. She serves on AGU committees and contributes to WMO wildfire advisory initiatives.