People

Shahbaz received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UET, Lahore, Pakistan and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from GIK Institute of Engineering and Technology, Topi, Pakistan. He worked as a Research Assistant/Lecturer at GIK Institute from 2012 till receiving the prestigious Fulbright PhD Fellowship 2018. He started his PhD at Virginia Tech and joined the Laboratory of Biological and Bio-inspired Materials in 2019. In 2022, he received the Pratt Fellowship for academic achievement in the Virginia Tech engineering program. For his graduate work, Shahbaz is working on the design of bio-inspired bulk materials which includes the understanding the effects of phase architecture on the mechanical behavior of bio-inspired composites. His research questions include: Are the observed structural motifs really “optimized” for mechanical performance? Can we design bio-inspired composites with more complex (like space-filling) structural motifs? Can we design gradient composites with multiple phases, such as some fish scales that transition from fully mineralized exteriors to fully collagen fiber-based interiors, with improved mechanical performance?

 

Liuni earned her B.S. in Physics from Radford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Then, she joined the Laboratory of Biological and Bio-inspired Materials (LBBM) as an undergraduate researcher, where she developed a strong interest in biological materials. Currently pursuing her PhD in materials science engineering, Liuni's research focuses on biominerals, particularly their complex structure-property relationships, as well as the mechanisms governing their formation. She is especially fascinated by the skeletal elements of echinoderms. Through her exploration of these precisely controlled biological minerals in organisms, Liuni aims to uncover principles that can inspire innovative solutions for the design and development of light-weight cellular materials.

Yang earned both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Energy and Power Engineering from Chongqing University, China, where he received several honors, including the Merit Graduate Student of Chongqing award and the National Graduate Scholarship. After that, he joined Professor Ling Li's research group in the Laboratory of Biological and Bio-Inspired Materials (LBBM) to pursue his doctoral studies. His research focuses on the thermal properties of biological materials, structural design, and material processing of bio-inspired ceramics.

Chenhao earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Chenhao’s research interest is in mechanically adaptive and tunable materials and structures, where he aims to understand how multiple skeletal elements interact with each other and function as an assembly by using a number of biological systems. His work involves multiscale 3D structural characterization and analysis, mechanical testing and analysis, and computational modeling.

Xiyuan is currently a master's student in MSE at UPenn. He has broad interests in the synthesis and novel applications of organic crystals. He received his BS in Chemistry from Emory University. In the Li Lab, he is exploring the factors that could influence the polymorph, morphology, and size of guanine crystals. His work focuses on understanding and controlling the crystal through tweaking synthesis procedures. His next step will be putting guanine crystals into practical applications.

Lingrui received her B.E. from Tianjin University, where her work focused on environmental and energy resource photocatalysis as well as electrode and electrolyte materials of solid oxide fuel cells. Lingrui joined the Ling Li lab in 2024 and has been involved in research on the preparation of bio-inspired materials, including ceramics and precursors of biomineralization.

Hina is a junior at Penn, studying Health & Societies on the pre-med track. Her current research focuses on chemical synthesis to produce carbonate spirals and investigating the mechanisms behind their formation. Hina has a broad interest in various fields of research and am eager to explore new areas. In her previous lab experience, she studied sleep regulation and sickness-induced sleep, which has implications for understanding human fatigue during illness.

Sherice is an undergraduate student studying physics at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the Li Group in 2024, where she is contributing to research on the internal pillar structures and morphology of starfish.

Anmol is a junior at Penn, double-majoring in Chemistry and Computer Science. Originally from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, he brings his enthusiasm for analytical problem-solving to his research, which focuses on developing bio-inspired ceramics. Outside the lab, he enjoys watching football and basketball and has a particular love for spicy food. He’s eager to apply his computational and chemical expertise to new challenges in materials science research.

Postdocs

• Dr. Zi'an Jia, Postdoc. 2019-2022 (Now postdoc at Princeton University)

Graduate students

• Hongshun Chen, Ph.D.  2017-2023 (Now postdoc at Northwestern University)
• Zhifei Deng, Ph.D. 2017-2023 (Now postdoc at Johns Hopkins University)
• Ting Yang, Ph.D. 2017-2021 (Now postdoc at MIT)
• Edward Lee, M.S. (2020-2023)
• Nick Roth, M.S. (2020-2023)
• Yiming Tan, M.S. (2019-2022)

Undergraduate students

• Matthew Dyke, ME (summer 2017) – Biological flexible armor
• Viktor Zorya, ME (summer 2017) – Biomechanical design of chicken eggshells
• Smriti Kandel, ME (spring 2018) – Nanotomography of biogenic guanine crystals
• Wenkun Liu, ME (Fall 2018) – Mechanical design of cuttlebone as a lightweight structure (supported by ICTAS REU grant)
• Yiming Tan, ME (spring 2019) – Biomechanical design of chicken eggshells
• Liuni Chen, ME (spring 2019) – Formation mechanisms of biomineralized photonic structures (Co-authored a conference abstract)
• Zeyang Liu, ME (spring 2019) – Geometrical design of sclerites from soft corals
• Garrett Lawlor, MSE (spring 2019) - Geometrical design of sclerites from soft corals
• Leigh Kadlec, MSE (summer 2019) – Structure-property of eggshell membranes
• Chenhao Hu, ME (winter 2019) – Biomimetic starfish
• Ross Williams, ME (winter 2019) – Biomimetic starfish
• Seunghui Kim, ME (spring 2020) – Biomimetic starfish
• Hayley Capilitan, ME (fall 2020) – Fatigue of biological composites
• Nick Roth, ME (fall 2020) – Impact tester design
• Anqi Chen, ME (fall 2020) – Fish fin mechanics
• Zhaowei Guo, ME (fall 2020) – Thermal properties of biological materials
• Ben Fielder, Freshman (fall 2021) – Mechanical design of eggshells
• Sam Harkness, ME (fall 2021) – Mechanical design of eggshells
• Max Moore, Freshman (fall 2021) – Mechanical design of eggshells
• Julia Gunzel, MSE (summer 2022) – Mechanical design of eggshells
• Amir Lahoud, ME (summer 2023) – Fabrication and testing of bio-inspired tough composites
• Jingcheng Luo, ME (summer 2023) – Soft coral sclerites as a natural jamming system