Xi got her bachelor degree in Atmospheric Science from Nanjing University in China in 2012 and her PhD in Atmospheric physics and atmospheric environment in 2017 at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After that, she started her postdoctoral research in the same institute. Then, she moved to the University of Iowa and joined the group as a postdoc in February, 2019. Her research focuses on the aerosol retrieval algorithm development, stratospheric aerosols variation due to volcanic eruptions and wildfires and impact on ozone depletion, the Earth’s energy budget and global climate, aerosols scattering influence in carbon dioxide retrieval, as well as the application of machine learning methods in remote sensing field. Xi has developed the aerosol layer height retrieval algorithm from satellite remote sensing hyperspectral observations in near infrared O₂ absorption bands (Chen et al., 2021b), which is significant to estimate surface air pollution.

Xi developed a neural network model to simulate the single-scattering optical properties and their sensitivities to non-spherical dust microphysical parameters, such as refractive index and size parameters simultaneously (Chen et al., 2022). She is also studying the stratospheric aerosols variation due to volcanic eruptions and intense biomass burning (pyrocumulonimbus, or PyroCb) combining satellite measurements and global chemical transport model (e.g. GEOS-Chem), as well as the impact on stratospheric ozone, radiative forcing and global climate. She became an assistant research scientist since Sep. 2022.