Environmental hazards such as hurricanes, flooding, droughts, and wildfires are creating growing challenges for infrastructure systems, communities, and financial institutions. Understanding these risks requires not only modeling the hazards themselves, but also examining how their impacts propagate through interconnected engineered, economic, and financial systems.

Dr. Dan Li joined Florida International University (FIU) in August 2026 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environment and the Environmental Finance & Risk Management Program within the Institute of Environment. Her research focuses on understanding how natural hazards propagate through engineered and financial systems, creating cascading risks and financial impacts. She develops quantitative models and decision-support tools to assess and manage these risks, including strategies such as parametric insurance and financial derivatives.

The broader goal of this research is to connect environmental and engineering models with financial risk management and decision-making, supporting more resilient infrastructure systems, communities, (re)insurers, and public agencies.

Research in the lab draws on methods including stochastic modeling, machine learning, catastrophe risk modeling, environmental systems analysis, and financial risk management. We integrate these approaches to understand how environmental hazards affect engineered and financial systems and to develop practical tools for risk management and resilience planning.