Yi Hong is a postdoc research fellow working for the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR), a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Michigan. His current work aims to improve water cycle prediction in the national water model through regional calibration, meteorological forcing improvements, and coastal coupling.

In general, his research focuses on studying the complex interactions between water cycle, pollutant transport, agriculture activities, ecosystem behaviors and their social-economic impacts, in responding to different climate and human activity forcing, as well as to proposing solutions in the context of sustainable development. Yi has worked in China, France, and the U.S.