After years of researching soft materials in the Northeast, Heyi Liang, Ph.D., has joined the Department of Materials Science & Engineering as an assistant professor.
Liang received his bachelor’s degree in macromolecular materials and engineering in 2014 from Fudan University in China. He then pursued his graduate studies at the University of Connecticut and began his research career examining polymeric materials in the Polymer Program at the Institute of Material Science.
After his first year in the program, he moved with his advisor and research group to the University of Akron, in Ohio, and graduated with his doctorate in polymer science in 2019. Liang spent five years at the University of Chicago at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering for his postdoctoral research. He then moved back to the East Coast with the same research group and worked at New York University for a year before joining UF earlier this year.
His current research focuses on the computational design and simulation of soft materials, including polymers, biomacromolecules and colloidal systems. His research group explores two major areas of soft materials. The first area focuses on biomedical applications, including the design of polymeric materials for drug delivery and tissue engineering. The second area focuses on sustainable polymers, where the group aims to develop next-generation polymeric materials with improved recyclability to reduce the environmental impact of plastics and rubbers.
One of his goals is to develop new courses or incorporate computational design and artificial intelligence into existing MSE courses.
“I really enjoy teaching and research,” said Liang. “I would like to incorporate computational design and artificial intelligence into my teaching and research, using these tools to accelerate the discovery and design of new materials.”
As Liang joins UF’s team of polymer researchers, he will continue research that bridges disciplines — chemistry, physics and engineering. He is a member of the American Physics Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineering and the American Chemical Society.