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 at the Institute of Environment. His research focuses on understanding how natural hazards propagate through engineered and financial systems, creating cascading risks and financial impacts. He develops quantitative models and decision-support tools to assess and manage these risks with tools 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. The work is highly interdisciplinary, with a strong emphasis on practical relevance and translating research into actionable tools and strategies for real-world risk management and resilience planning.