CV
Education
- PhD in Engineering (Sept. 2013 – July 2018)
- Major: Mechanics
- Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University
- Supervisor: Prof. Changqing Chen
- Visiting PhD Student (Jan. – July 2015) and Endeavour Research Fellow (June – Dec. 2017)
- School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney
- Supervisor: Prof. Yixiang Gan
- Bachelor of Engineering (Sept. 2009 – July 2013)
- Major: Engineering Mechanics
- Department of Engineering Mechanics, Shandong University
Work experience
- Sept. 2023 - now: Assistant Professor
- University of Birmingham
- Feb. 2022 - Aug. 2023: Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
- Nanyang Technological University
- Host Mentor: Prof. K. Jimmy Hsia
- Dec. 2018 - Feb. 2022: Research Fellow
- University of Oxford
- Host Supervisor: Prof. Dominic Vella
Awards
2025 Mike Crisfield Prize for best presentation by UKACM
2025 Highly Commended for Outstanding Impact by an Early Career Researcher by the University of Birmingham
2025 Most Influential Paper Award in Soft Science
2024 Young Scientist Support Grant for The 26th International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ICTAM 2024)
2023 Extreme Mechanics Letters (EML) Young Investigator Award
Grants and Independent Fellowships
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, Nanyang Technological University (2021), S$400K
Newton International Fellowship, The Royal Society (2018), £106K
Endeavour Research Fellowship, Australian Department of Education (2017), A$25K
Selected Publications
- Tong, D., Hao, Z., Liu, M.*, Huang, W.* (2025). Inverse Design of Snap-Actuated Jumping Robots Powered by Mechanics-Aided Machine Learning. IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett., 10(2), 1720-1727.
- Huang, W., Yu, T.*, Hsia, K.J., Adriaenssens, S., Liu, M.* (2024). Integration of kinks and creases enables tunable folding in meta-ribbons. Matter, 7(9), 3007-3023.
- Wang, Q., Giudici, A., Huang, W., Wang, Y., Liu, M., Tawfick, S., Vella, D.* (2024). Transient amplification of broken symmetry in elastic snap-through. Phys. Rev. Lett., 132, 267201.
- Guo, K., Liu, M.*, Vella, D., Suresh, S.*, Hsia, K.J.* (2024). Dehydration-induced corrugated folding in Rhapis excelsa plant leaves. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 121 (17), e2320259121. (Featured in the This week in PNAS.)
- Yang, X., Liu, M.*, Zhang, B., Wang, Z., Chen, T., Zhou, Y., Chen, Y., Hsia, K.J., Wang, Y.* (2024). Hierarchical tessellation enables general 3D shape-morphing structures. Matter, 7, 603-619.
- Yang, X.#, Zhou, Y.#, Zhao, H., Huang, W., Wang, Y.*, Hsia, K.J.*, Liu, M.* (2023). Morphing matter: From mechanical principles to robotic applications. Soft Science, 3, 38. (Featured as the Front Cover.)
- Liu, M., Domino, L., Dupont de Dinechin, I., Taffetani, M., Vella, D.* (2023). Snap-induced morphing: From a single bistable shell to the origin of shape bifurcation in interacting shells. J Mech. Phys. Solids, 70, 105116.
- Meng, Z., Liu, M., Yan, H., Genin, G.M., Chen, C.* (2022). Deployable mechanical metamaterials with multistep programmable transformation. Sci. Adv., 8(23), eabn5460.
- Liu, M., Gomez, M., Vella, D.* (2021). Delayed bifurcation in elastic snap-through instabilities. J Mech. Phys. Solids, 151, 104386.
- Liu, M., Domino, L., Vella, D.* (2020). Tapered elasticæ as a route for axisymmetric morphing structures. Soft Matter, 16, 7739–7750.
Service and leadership
- Early Career Advisory Board (EML-ECAB), Special Editor for Social Media Engagement: Extreme Mechanics Letters
Youth Editorial Board: Soft Science
Referee for peer-reviewed journals: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.; Phys. Rew. Lett.; J Mech. Phys. Solids; Extre. Mech. Lett.; Int. J Solids Struct.; Proc. R. Soc. A; Euro J Mech. A Solids; Mech. Mater.; Phys. Rev. B; Phys. Rev. E; Phys. Rev. Appl.; Newton; Cell Rep. Phys. Sci.; EcoMat; Adv. Sci.; Adv. Intell. Syst.; Thin Wall. Struct.; Phys. Fluids; Virtual Phys. Prototyp.; Int. J Mech. Mater. Design; ACS Appl. Nano Mater; Soft Sci.
- Referee for the funding agency: UKRI-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); The Leverhulme Trust; Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong