Faculty Profiles

Colleges and Departments

Dr. Yanan Li

  • Associate Professor - Dept of Geography & Environmntl Studies

Biography and education

Yanan (Nancy) Li is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University. As a physical geographer, Nancy's research interests include glacial geomorphology, biogeography, past climate change, and geomorphometry. She received both her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2011 and 2015, respectively. She completed her B.S. degree in Geosciences at Beijing Normal University (China) in 2008. She focused on dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis) during the M.S. program, and her master's thesis is titled “Dendroclimatic analysis of climate oscillations for the southeastern US from tree-ring network data”. Continued with her doctoral program, Nancy expanded her study to geomorphology and geospatial skills. Her doctoral dissertation research is titled “Timing and Extent of the Little Ice Age Glacial Advances in Central-Eastern Tian Shan, China”. She has received several grants and awards at department, university, and national levels, including the National Geographic Young Explorers Grant and the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. She has published twenty-one peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals such as Progress in Physical Geography, Quaternary Science Reviews, Annals of Glaciology, Environmental Research Letters, and Annals of American Association of Geographers.

Teaching Interests

Research Interests

  • Li, Yanan. Faculty Development Leave Supplemental Grant, Texas State University, $20000. (Submitted: October 4, 2024, Funded: January 1, 2026 - August 31, 2026). Grant.
  • Li, Yanan (Principal). Chronological reconstruction of past ice ages from an alpine glacier in central Tianshan of Central Asia, Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: October 4, 2023, Funded: January 18, 2024 - May 20, 2025). Grant.
  • Li, Yanan (Principal), Krause, Samantha Marie. Environmental history in the Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico, TXST Division of Research, College of Liberal Arts, and Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Texas State University, $3000. (Funded: March 9, 2023 - July 31, 2024). Grant.
  • Li, Yanan. High resolution survey and monitoring of the Continental Glacier, Wyoming, Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: October 15, 2018, Funded: January 15, 2019 - May 31, 2020). Grant.
  • Zhu, Haifeng (Principal), Li, Yanan (Supporting). Multi-proxy study on glacier fluctuations of southeast Tibetan Plateau during the past millennium, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, National Natural Science Foundation of China, $160000. (Submitted: March 16, 2017, Funded: January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2021). Grant.
View all grants
  • Li, Y., Fu, P., Chen, R., & Li, Y. (2023). Quaternary glaciations in western China: a review of the chronologies established by absolute dating. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment.
  • Li, Y. (2022). Century-long changing climate of Texas: the spatial-temporal variability and trends of temperature and precipitation. International Journal of Global Warming, 27(1), 102–122. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJGW.2022.122798
  • Lai, J., Li, Y., Chen, J., Niu, G., Lin, P., Li, Q., … Sun, Y. (2022). Massive crop expansion threatens agriculture and water sustainability in northwestern China. Environmental Research Letters, (17). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac46e8
  • Li, Y. (2020). Glacier changes and their linkage to climate-topographic context in the Borohoro Mountains, Tian Shan 1977–2018. Water, 12(1502). https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051502
  • Zhu, H., Shao, X., Zhang, H., Asad, F., Sigdel, S. R., Huang, R., … Liang, E. (2019). Trees record changes of the temperate glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau: Potential and uncertainty. Global and Planetary Change, 173, 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.12.004
View all scholarly/creative works
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University. August 19, 2022
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Faculty Development Leave Supplemental Grant Award, Texas State University. January 15, 2025
  • Award / Honor Recipient: The ISWCR Outstanding Paper Award, The International Soil and Water Conservation Research (ISWCR). March 18, 2024
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Award in Teaching for an Assistant Professor, Texas State University. February 1, 2022
  • Award / Honor Recipient: 2020 Teaching Award of Honor, Texas State Alumni Association. January 15, 2020 - May 15, 2020
View all awards
  1. Member

    Honors Committee of Paleoenvironmental Change Specialty Group, AAG

  2. Chair

    Cryosphere Specialty Group, AAG

  3. Other

    Frontier in Big Data section – Data-driven Climate Sciences

  4. Member

    University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)

  5. Other

    University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

  6. Member

    Scholarships and Awards Committee

  7. View all activities