 She obtained her PhD degree in January 1990 at Cornell University under the supervision of Professor Roald Hoffmann, the 1981 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry.She continued to work at Cornell as a postdoc for two years (1989–1991) with Professor Francis DiSalvo  before taking an academic position at Rutgers University.Li joined the Rutgers Faculty as an assistant professor in 1991, where she was promoted to associate professor in 1996, full professor in 1999, and distinguished professor in 2006.