Meet Meng Li

CIRES researcher Meng Li joined the Regional Chemical Modeling research program in March 2019.

What do you do here at CSL?

I'm a research scientist at CSL. My major research interests are emissions, multiphase chemistry, atmospheric modeling and top-down evaluations. I've been working on the development of "MIX" anthropogenic emission inventory and the VOC speciation framework over Asia. At CSL, I'm now working on quantifying and evaluating the NOx and VOC emissions at a regional scale using satellite observations, WRF-Chem atmospheric model development, and improvement of model performance based on multiple techniques.

Where are you from/where did you grow up?

I grew up in the Weifang City of Shandong province, China. Weifang is considered to be the birthplace of kites, and is famous for the international kite festival annually held in April. It has a history of being a county capital for more than 2000 years, and has population over 10 million. My memories with Weifang are the vast beautiful plain planted with thousands of wheats and peanuts, the high speed trains, the fragrance of white spirit ("baijiu") spreading all over the town, the gathering of neighbors, chatting and laughing together in front of my house at summer night. Although it has been more than ten years since I left my hometown, I've been missing it all the time.

What was your career path to get here?

I got my bachelor of Environmental Engineering in Beijing, China in 2011. Then I went to the Tsinghua University, starting my research career on atmospheric chemistry, and I got my Ph.D degree in 2016. Then I went to Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany as a postdoc. In 2019, I joined the Regional Chemical Modeling group in NOAA CSL as a CIRES research scientist. I feel very fortunate to work with so many great colleagues in my research career.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Hiking with friends and family, reading with my daughter, eating good food, and movies.