Major honors and awards (since 2010)

February 2022: Selected to be the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Service Award, which is given by the Spatial Analysis and Modeling (SAM) Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) to "recognize any individual(s) who has substantially contributed to the SAM group through outstanding service".

January 2022: Elected to be a Fellow of American Association of Geographers (AAG; 2022 class). Fellows of AAG are recognized to be "geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography". For more information, read the news.

November 2020: Elected as a Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a lifetime distinction awarded to leading scientists across the world. SDSU Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Dr. Hala Madanat, SDSU former president Dr. Stephen Weber, SDSU former Vice President for Research and Innovation Dr. Stephen Welter, Dean of Arts and Letters Dr. Monica J. Casper, and many colleagues, students, and friends congratulated Dr. Li An.

May 2020: Elected to be Councillor-at-large and member of the 2020-2022 Executive Committee for the International Association of Landscape Ecology - North America (IALE-NA) in recognition of contributions to the field of Landscape Ecology.

March 2019: Founding director of Complex Human-Environment Systems (CHES) Center. The CHES Center is an international research hub for integrating complex systems theory and human-environment science.

Recipient of the Excellence in Research Award for the Humanities and the Social Sciences at College of Arts and Letters, San Diego State University, 2018.

Awardee of the SDSU President’s Leadership Fund in 2014. This fund is for “building on excellence” in support of student success, research and creative endeavors, and community and communication.

Recipient of the 2013-2014 Outstanding International Scholar Award at San Diego State University, which annually recognizes a distinguished faculty member with demonstrated outstanding contributions to the international arena.

Recipient of the NSF Award “CNH: Impacts of ecosystem service payments in coupled natural and human systems”. The news has been reported by Daily Aztec (SDSU newspaper) and SDSU Website in 2012.