Haiyan Li received the B.S. degree in physics from Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China, in 1999, the M.S. degree in physics oceanography from the Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China, in 2004, and the Ph.D. degree in physics oceanography from the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China, in 2007.
Currently, she is Professor in the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Since October 2009, she has been a Visiting Scientist with Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada. Her research interests include oceanic microwave remote sensing, particularly in the field of polar ocean, air–sea interactions, ocean dynamic process study, and target detection by advanced SAR, altimeter and other remote sensing observation.