Shirley Weishi Li

Biography

Shirley Weishi Li, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Physics from The Ohio State University in 2017, where she worked with Prof. John F. Beacom. Prior to joining UCI in 2022, Li held postdoctoral positions at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Li's research focuses on neutrino physics, including neutrino-nucleus interactions and astrophysical neutrino sources such as supernovae. Her work spans studies of neutrino cross sections relevant to oscillation experiments, development of techniques for neutrino flavor identification, and theoretical calculations of backgrounds in neutrino detectors. She is a member of the DUNE collaboration and has contributed to understanding detector capabilities for solar neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, and oscillation measurements. Li received the APS Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics in 2019 and was a finalist for the APS Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award in Astrophysics in 2018.

Li has delivered numerous invited talks at international workshops and conferences, including presentations at CERN, MITP, and various universities. She has taught at several summer schools, including TASI and the National Nuclear Physics Summer School. At UCI, she received both the Graduate Teaching Award and the Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education award in 2024. Li serves as an Early Career Advisor for Physical Review Letters and is active in outreach efforts, including chairing Conéctate con Fermilab and volunteering with UCI QuarkNet.

Education

• Ph.D. in Physics, The Ohio State University, 2017
• B.S. in Physics, The Ohio State University, 2011

Distinctions

• NSF CAREER Award, 2026
• UCI Physics and Astronomy Graduate Teaching Award, 2024
• UCI Physics and Astronomy Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, 2024
• APS Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics, 2019
• APS Finalist in Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award in Astrophysics Competition, 2018
• OSU Presidential Fellowship, 2016-2017
• Louise B. Vetter Research Award, 2016