Xiaohan (Sally) LiStaff Scientist

Research Focus:

particle-air interfaces, aerosol microphysics, climate modeling

Email:

sallyxl@uchicago.edu

Office:

Hinds 479

Biography

Pronouns: She/her/hers

CIMES Postdoc Fellow, Princeton University/NOAA GFDL, 2023-2025

Ph.D in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 2018-2023

BS in Energy and Resources Engineering, Peking University, 2014-2018

Research Interests

My research focuses on aerosol microphysics and aerosol–climate interactions, which is among the most uncertain aspects of our understanding of the climate system. By developing and integrating innovative methodologies across molecular, process, and global scales, my work aims to bridge discrepancies between model simulations and observational data and to generate transformative new insights into the roles of aerosols in environmental processes, atmospheric dynamics, biogeochemical cycles, and climate systems.

Selected Publications

1. Li, X.*; Fan, S.*; Guo, H.; Ginoux, P. Resolving the Roles of Soot and Dust in Cirrus Cloud Ice Formation at Regional and Global Scales: Insights from Parcel and Climate Models. EGUsphere [preprint], 2025. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4224

2. Li, X.*; Ginoux, P. An Empirical Parameterization to Separate Coarse and Fine Mode Aerosol Optical Depth at Regional and Global Scales over Land. Geophys. Res. Lett. 52, e2024GL114397 (2025).

3. Li, X.*; Martin, W.; Shen, X.; Steinke, I.; Lai, Z.; Niu, S.; Shrivastava, M.; China, S.; Zhang, Z.; Gold, A.; Surratt, J. D.; Bourg, I. C.; Cziczo, D. J.*; Burrows, S.*; Zhang, Y.* Quantifying and Modeling the Impact of Phase State on the Ice Nucleation Abilities of 2-Methyltetrols as a Key Component of Secondary Organic Aerosol Derived from Isoprene Epoxydiols. Environ. Sci. Technol. 58 (51), 22678–22690 (2024).

4. Li, X.; Bourg, I. C.* Hygroscopic Growth of Adsorbed Water Films on Smectite Clay Particles. Environ. Sci. Technol. 58 (2), 1109–1118 (2024).

5. Li, X.*; Bourg, I. C. Phase State, Surface Tension, Water Activity, and Accommodation Coefficient of Water–Organic Clusters near the Critical Size for Atmospheric New Particle Formation. Environ. Sci. Technol. 57, 13092–13103 (2023).

6. Li, X.; Bourg I.C.* Microphysics of Liquid Water in Sub-10 nm Ultrafine Aerosol Particles. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 23, 2525–2556 (2023).