Li, of Los Alamos' Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics group, is the Laboratory's project and team leader for heavy liquid metal coolant technology and materials development, and serves as an executive committee member of the Material Science and Technology Division of the American Nuclear Society. Li also is an adjunct professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and is a research affiliate in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has authored 97 publications and technical reports and has received one patent.
Li earned his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China and arrived in the United States as a doctoral student in the Physics Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The CIE-USA award recognizes established engineers who have made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, the public welfare and/or humankind. This is the fifth consecutive year a Los Alamos scientist has received the award. Previous Laboratory recipients are Quanxi Jia, Wu-chun Feng, Joe Tiee and Paul Pan.
Li will be recognized at a banquet scheduled for Feb. 25 in Seattle, Wash.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.