Jihong Cole-Dai is a professor of chemistry at South Dakota State University. His research in environmental chemistry and global change involves the measurement of chemical components in polar ice cores and the reconstruction of the history of the atmospheric environment using those measurments. Cole-Dai has led field teams to Antarctica and the Arctic several times over the last fifteen years to collect ice cores and his research lab at SDSU is participating in an on-going national research project to extract a 3,400 meter deep ice core in West Antarctica. This research is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Cole-Dai has taught graduate and undergraduate chemistry at SDSU since 2000 and has mentored several graduate students in pursuit of advanced degrees in chemistry. In 2005, Cole-Dai received the Dr. Sherwood and Elizabeth Berg New Faculty Research Award at SDSU; and he was named the Distinguished Researcher of 2009 by the SDSU College of Arts and Sciences.