Author Archives: cliulab

Chong is promoted to Full Professor

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Effective 07/01/2026, Chong is promoted to Full Professor, somehow. He is grateful for all the supports from colleagues, collaborators, and friends. Moreover, such an accelerated promotion is impossible without the support and contribution of current and former group members. Chong is extremely grateful for their works!

The Liu group has changed quite a bit since its founding 9 years ago at UCLA. The research focuses have shifted, in a good way, into directions that were almost impossible to imagine in 2017. How could one imagine in 2017 that the group will work on automation and artificial intelligence for electrochemistry? Even in the directions that Chong has envisioned in 2017, the methodology, scientific questions, and the relevant community are quite different fro the originally proposed ones. It is exciting to see how the Liu group will continuously evolve in the next decade for the sake of science.

Finally, the current research in the Liu group (mostly):

Two more PhDs!

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It is great that we have two more students obtaining their PhDs this year: Dr. Jingwen Sun and Dr. Zachary Schuman. Congratulations! The PI is grateful for Jingwen’s contribution to our group’s new foray into automated electrochemistry and electroanalytic tools based on machine learning; The PI also thanks Zach’s studies at the materials-biology interface, and our collaboration with Kula Bio. Best wishes for the future career!

A new NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC)

The Liu group participates in a newly funded NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC), lead by Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). This 5-year $26M center (EEC-2330245), named as The Carbon Utilization Redesign for Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization (CURB), will use a Hybrid Electro-Bio CO2 Utilization System (HEBCUS) that uses electrocatalysis to turn waste carbon dioxide into intermediate substances, such as ethanol, acetate and propionate. These intermediates will be compatible with biomanufacturing systems that can more efficiently convert them into a range of products, such as platform chemicals, biofertilizers and other environmentally responsible materials.

As one thrust leader of this ERC, Chong look forwards to the collaboration and research progresses in the future~~

The news release from WashU can be found here.

Jingwen Sun, Zach Schuman, Jennifer Kim, and Aila Shibao receive the departmental awards!

In the recent departmental award ceremony, multiple group members has been honored with awards for their excellence! Congratulations!

Graduate student Jingwen Sun and Zach Schuman receive the John Stauffer Excellence in Second Year Academics and Research Award. This award is given in recognition of their outstanding performance in coursework, research, and qualifying exam through the first two years of graduate studies.

Graduate student Jennifer Kim receives the Michael E. Jung Excellence in Teaching Award. This award is given to students who have excelled as teaching assistants (TAs), as reflected in undergraduate student evaluations and faculty nomination letters.

Undergraduate student Aila Shibao receives Ravi and Aparna Bikkina Family Undergraduate Research Scholarship. This scholarship will support Aila to conduct summer research in the group in Fall 2024.

Again, congratulations to all the awardees!

Those fantastic graduate student awardees have been recognized in the annual departmental awards ceremony on May 21, 2024.