Brief description of Chong Liu

Full CV of Chong Liu (constantly updated)

Chong received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Fudan University, China, where he synthesized mesoporous materials with Prof. Dongyuan Zhao. He then pursued his graduate research at University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. Peidong Yang. His Ph. D. thesis focused on artificial photosynthesis that uses solar energy to synthesize selective chemicals. A variety of building blocks, including inorganic catalysts, semiconductor nanomaterials, and even microorganisms with selective reactivity, are integrated to create efficient functional devices. He received Materials Research Society graduate student award for his work. After receiving his Ph. D. in chemistry at Berkeley, he continued his career as Lee Kuan Yew postdoctoral fellow sponsored by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Working together with Prof. Daniel Nocera at Harvard University and Prof. Pamela Silver at Harvard Medical School, he combined the strengths of biology and inorganic chemistry, and developed inorganic/bio hybrid systems of solar-driven CO2 and N2 fixation with the efficiencies higher than natural counterparts. These works were published in Science and PNAS of which he was the co-first author. In 2017, Chong decided to join UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry as a tenure-track assistant professor under the Jeffrey and Helo Zink Endowed Professional Development Term Chair in Chemistry.

Beyond research, Chong enjoys camping, hiking, and many other outdoor activities. He has visited about one-third of national parks in the United States, in many cases with his tent shown below (Yosemite, 2014). Since high school, he is a big fan of science fiction, especially the Foundation series. He also plays bridge since high school.

Click here to check the web page of Dr. Chong Liu in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA.

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