Dr. Peiyuan Li of Discovery Partners Institute

Urbanization is rapidly transforming our world, with cities emerging as the epicenters of human habitation, hosting over two-thirds of the global population by mid-century. However, this exponential growth has heightened the vulnerability of urban residents to environmental stressors, including urban heat, hazardous air quality, and extreme weather events. Addressing these challenges requires a nuanced understanding of the highly heterogeneous urban landscape and the complex interactions between natural processes and human activities. This presentation offers a comprehensive overview of urban climate research, exploring the transition from traditional physics-based methods to innovative information-driven techniques, with a focus on climate informatics. Delving into the pivotal role of advanced machine learning methods, the seminar will help to digest how these approaches can bridge weather and climate modeling efforts across scales, envision the next generation of urban weather and climate models, and facilitate the integration of climate information for industry and community applications. Additionally, the presentation showcases pioneering applications of street-level urban heat models in the Chicago area, providing insights into setting a systematic research agenda for the next decade. 

Biography:

Dr. Peiyuan Li is Senior Research Associate and was previously a postdoctoral researcher at the Discovery Partners Institute since 2022. Prior to joining DPI, he completed his Ph.D. at Arizona State University in 2021, with a research focus on urban hydrometeorology and numerical climate modeling. He also received his master’s degree from University of Michigan in 2016 as an environmental and water resources engineer. Peiyuan's current research endeavors revolve around urban informatics and urban climate modeling, utilizing both physical-based urban canopy models and data-driven machine learning approaches. He actively contributes to identifying and assessing optimal nature-based solutions for urban environment.

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