Yingkui Li is a physical geographer and GIS/spatial analysis researcher with broader research interests in paleo-climate and environmental reconstruction, Lidar and Earth surface processes, climate and human impacts on the environment, and GIS and spatial analysis.

(1) Paleo-climate and environmental change:  Using cosmogenic nuclides (CN), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and other dating techniques in paleo-climate and environmental reconstruction. My study areas are mainly on the Tibetan Plateau and Tian Shan, China. I am also conducting cosmogenic nuclide analyses of glacial features in Costa Rica.

(2) Climate and human impacts on environment: Investigating the response of lake level fluctuations to climate change in the Tibetan Plateau and assessing the impact of land use change/urbanization on surface runoff and water quality using RS (remote sensing) and GIS (geographic information system) techniques and hydrological modeling.

(3) LiDAR/UAS and Earth surface processes: Developing and applying terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) to quantify Earth surface processes, including streambank erosion, gully erosion, glacier retreat, landform extraction and mapping, terrain generation and 3D modeling.

(4) GIS and spatial analysis: Applications of GIS to resolve various geographic and environmental issues such as GIS-based assessment of ice-sheet model performance using field-observed geomorphic evidence, automatic feature boundary extraction, and spatial conservation prioritization.

The funding support of his research includes the National Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Tennessee, and University of Missouri.

He teaches general courses in physical geography and GIS, upper level courses in geomorphology and special topics in environmental modeling/analysis, and seminars in his specialty. For more information about Li’s research and teaching, please see his web page at the link above.