Meet Our Team
We are a group of researchers working at the intersection of soft materials, liquid crystalline systems, active matter, and advanced manufacturing.
Principal Investigator
Shucong Li (李姝聪)
Shucong Li is an Assistant Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and the School of Physics at Georgia Tech. Her research focuses on soft intelligent materials, liquid crystalline elastomers, active materials, and advanced manufacturing for programmable soft matter systems.
PhD Students
Xinyi Ding
In her prior research, Xinyi first focused on sonopiezoelectric nano-therapy for effective tumor eradication in Prof. Meiqi Chang’s lab. Then, she studied the synthesis and application of dual-functional ionogels possessing both ionic thermoelectric and piezoelectric properties under Prof. Ziqi Liang's guidance. Currently, Xinyi is a Ph.D. student in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. In Prof. Shucong Li's Lab, her research focuses on the design and fabrication of bio-inspired liquid crystal assemblies through advanced manufacturing techniques, ultimately developing soft materials with environmentally adaptive dynamic reconfigurations.
Haodong Hu
Haodong has developed strong interests and motivation in studying polymer materials science since his undergraduate study. After entering USTC, he joined Prof. Quan Chen’s lab, and his research focused on the elasticity and swelling behavior of hydrogels based on tetra-armed prepolymers. Haodong is currently a Ph.D. student in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. His research in the Li lab focuses on smart materials including liquid crystalline elastomers and hydrogels.
Master’s Students and Visiting Students
Tushar Narayan Singh
Tushar is conducting research at Georgia Tech under the guidance of Dr. Shucong Li and Dr. Bolei Deng. His work focuses on macro-to-micro control strategies for liquid crystalline elastomeric soft robots using finite element modeling and inverse design workflows.
Maria Giannakoudi
Maria worked on hydrogel systems for reconstructing soft tissues under dynamic tensile loads at Imperial College and completed her master’s thesis on aero-hydrogels for atmospheric water harvesting at MIT.
Undergraduate Students
Gabriella Carreira
Gabi is an undergraduate researcher and a Stamps President’s Scholar working on the development of oxygen-permeable hydrogels for biomedical applications, including wearable health monitors and artificial tissue.
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Yihui Ou
Yihui is an undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering at Fuzhou University. He is currently an undergraduate intern in Prof. Li’s group at Georgia Tech, focusing on the development of light-activated liquid crystal elastomers.
Christian Kim
Inspired by biomimicry, Christian is investigating the development and testing of liquid crystal elastomer composites through 3D printing techniques for artificial muscles and biomaterial systems.
Botao Li
Botao is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Chemistry at Wuhan University. He is currently an undergraduate intern in Prof. Li’s group at Georgia Tech, focusing on the integration of organic luminescent materials with liquid crystal elastomers.