Dr. Li Shi

Dr. Shi has been a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Texas Materials Institute at the University of Texas at Austin since 2002. He received a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Berkeley in 2001, a M.S. degree from Arizona State University in 1997, and a B.E. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing in 1991.

The overarching goal of Dr. Shi’s research group is to provide innovative technological solutions to address global challenges in energy, sustainability, and health care. They investigate novel materials especially nanostructured and complex materials from synthesis and fundamental properties to device and system- level applications, including thermoelectric energy conversion and refrigeration, thermal energy storage, solar energy utilization, catalytic conversion, nanoelectronic devices, molecular sensors, microfluidic systems, biomedical imaging, and drug delivery. Current research projects undertaken by this group are organized in four areas focused on Energy and Environment, Thermal Management, Electronics and Photonics, and Biomedical Technologies..

In the area of Energy and Environment, Dr. Shi’s group is currently investigating thermal batteries for electric vehicles and high-performance thermoelectric devices based on abundant silicide materials for vehicle waste heat recovery.

In the area of thermal management, the group is currently researching energy transport in graphene, ballistic and quantum thermal transport phenomena and devices, electronic thermal transport in nanoscale conductors, and thermal transport at nanoscale point and line constrictions and interfaces.

In the area of Electronics and Photonics, Dr. Shi’s group currently investigating topological insulator coherent energy devices, and in the area of biomedical technologies they are investigating high-throughput nanoimprint fabrication of shape-specific, stimuli-responsive polymeric nanocarriers for drug and imagine agent delivery.

For more information, see Dr. Shi’s research web site.