| Ying Fan Reinfelder | |
| Workplaces: | Rutgers University Princeton University Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Alma Mater: | Utah State University University of Utah Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture |
| Thesis Title: | Groundwater flow in closed desert basins: Insights from numerical experiments |
| Thesis Url: | https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5298045 |
| Thesis Year: | 1992 |
Ying Fan Reinfelder is a Chinese–American earth scientist who is a professor and researcher in the Rutgers University Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. She is interested in climate dynamics and the global water cycle. She was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2022.
Reinfelder earned a B.S. in engineering from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.[1] She moved to the United States for graduate studies, earning a master's degree in geography at the University of Utah. She was a doctoral researcher at Utah State University, where her research considered density-driven ground water flow in desert basins.[2] After earning her doctorate, Reinfelder joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University.
Reinfelder is a professor in the Rutgers University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.[3] Her research considers hydrology, and how water impacts the function and structure of planet Earth.[4]
In 2017, Reinfelder demonstrated that soil hydrology influenced global patterns of plant root depths.[5]