Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2020
  • B.S., Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2015
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Metallurgical, California, #2046
Professional Honors
  • Jill Hruby Fellowship Finalist, Sandia National Laboratories, 2020
  • Racheff Teaching Fellowship, UIUC, 2017-2019
  • Donald Hamer Fellowship, UIUC, 2015-2017
Professional Affiliations
  • Society of Engineering Science (SES)
  • The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS)
  • Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
  • Tau Beta Pi (TBP)

Dr. Liu specializes in failure analysis, metallurgy, and materials characterization. Her technical expertise includes the understanding and operation of a variety of analytical tools, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), synchrotron-based and lab-based X-ray techniques (X-ray tomography, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence), atom probe tomography (APT), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and mechanical testing techniques for structural, compositional, and thermal analysis of metals and polymers. 

Dr. Liu also has experience in 2D image processing and 3D tomographic reconstruction using MATLAB, ImageJ, Paraview, and Vaa3D.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Liu completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her doctoral thesis focused on characterizing the structural and chemical properties of shear bands in metallic glasses from the atomic scale to the microscale. Her experimental findings linked the structural evolution of shear bands with the macroscopic plastic strain in metallic glasses. For her dissertation work, Dr. Liu also collaborated closely with staff scientists from the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In addition to her dissertation work, Dr. Liu served as a teaching assistant for undergraduate materials laboratory classes and the Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Materials class. Her undergraduate research project included assembling and characterizing water desalination membranes and hybrid solar cells. Dr. Liu also performed an internship at Schlumberger where she conducted structure-property analyses of additively manufactured Ni-based superalloys.