Principal Investigator:

Tian Li
Associate Professor (from August 2025)
Perry Academic Excellence Scholar
Packard Fellow, Kavli Fellow
School of Mechanical Engineering
Purdue University
1034 Ray W. Herrick Laboratories,
177 S Russell St, West Lafayette, IN 47907
(765)496-0858
Dr. Tian Li is a Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering and Kavli Fellow by National Academy of Sciences. She is the recipient many awards including Violet B. Haas Fellowship, Moore Inventor Fellowship finalist, Forbes 30 under 30, ASME Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Award, R&D 100 Finalist, Sony Research Innovation Award, MRS postdoc award, among others. As the leading author or corresponding author, she has published on Nature, Science, Nature Materials, Nature Energy, Science Advances, among others. Her research work has been covered in many medias including Science podcast, Nature index, New York Times and others.
Innovative solutions towards grand challenges require a multidisciplinary approach. By Redesigning Natural materials for Energy, Water, Environment and Devices (ReNEWED), the Li group aims to apply the fundamental science to establish a “toolbox” of naturally occurred materials towards engineering solutions that are nanoscale facinating and geoscale feasible.
------------------------------------------------- Recent News -------------------------------------------------
May 2025
Congratulations! Qilong has been named one of the “Top 10 Chinese American Outstanding Youth” for 2025.

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April 2025
Pengfei and Xiwei defensed their Preliminary Examination for PhD
Congratulations to them!


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April 2025
Thanks for the sweetest surprise! Thanks to all our group members!
The cake reads "Congrats to Tenured Prof. Tian Li", with a very cool design — thanks, team!
