Dr. Cheng Li holds B.E. in Engineering Mechanics and B.S. in Mathematics from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) specializing in experimental fluid dynamics. He worked as a postdoctoral scholar at both National Energy Technology Laboratory, US Department of Energy and St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota before joining GTIIT late 2021.

His work concerns several critical fluid dynamics processes in nature and industry, such as (i) oil droplet breakup and dispersion by breaking waves, (ii) fundamental physics and public health implications of oily marine aerosols, (iii) spray droplets size-velocity measurement and control, (iv) particle dynamics in fluidized bed reactors (v) field investigation of snow settling and clustering under atmospheric turbulence, (vi) field measurement of coastal bottom boundary layer. Dr. Li is enthusiastic about the development and application of advanced flow diagnostic for enabling the interdisciplinary research in oceanography, biology, robotics, public health, medical science, etc. He has been in collaboration with researchers from various renowned institutes, including ETH Zürich, UCLA, JHU, US Department of Energy, University of Texas – Marine Science Institute, University of South Florida, University of Pennsylvania, etc. He was recognized as the GoMRI (Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative) scholar in 2014 and served as a panelist in the GoMRI Symposium celebrating 10 years of GoMRI research in 2020 both for his work in oil dispersion by breaking waves research. Dr. Li's works have been published in renowned journals in the field, including JFM, IJMF, JGR: Oceans, CEJ, JWEIA, AICHE J, CES, etc.

• Multiphase flow: particle laden flows, particle-turbulence interaction, droplet/bubble fragmentation under turbulence, sprays, aerosol
• Development and application of advanced flow diagnostic tools for multidisciplinary research: digital inline holography, tomographic holography, holographic microscopy
• Field-scale particle and flow measurement