CEE Ph.D. student Xinchang “Cathy” Li (MS 19) has received the prestigious Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
Li’s doctoral research with her adviser, Assistant Professor Lei Zhao, focuses on the mechanisms, impacts and modeling of local to global interactions between urban energy use and urban climate under climate change. Her proposed work with the Linus Pauling Distinguished Fellowship aims to answer the question of whether uncaptured climate-energy interactions could lead to maladaptation as we navigate net-zero energy transitions. The results from her work will provide a scientific basis for climate-informed energy planning.
PNNL's Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship is designed "for the next generation of scientists and engineers who will push the boundaries of science to world-recognized discoveries."
Pauling Fellows receive active mentoring by internationally recognized scientists and are equipped with the resources they need to carry out a research program of their own design. According to PNNL, "They will learn cutting-edge approaches, utilize and build state-of-science capabilities, and contribute to research efforts that advance scientific frontiers and solve pressing challenges for the nation."
Li will be leading her own research project while working closely with Casey Burleyson, Yun Qian, and Tirthankar "TC" Chakraborty, as well as other experts on Earth systems science, energy efficiency and grid resilience at PNNL and beyond.