About Shuaifeng Li (Google Scholar, ORCID)
Currently, I am a Research Fellow in Department of Physics at University of Michigan working with Prof. Xiaoming Mao, focusing on mechanical neural networks and physical learning. I earned my Ph.D. from Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at University of Washington, under the supervision of Prof. Jinkyu Yang. Before that, I earned my B.S. from Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Education
Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics 09/2018-06/2023
University of Washington (UW), Seattle, WA, USA
(Dissertation title: Characterization and Modeling of Spatiotemporal Behaviors in Corals, Elastic Metamaterials and Origami)
B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering 09/2013-06/2017
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, Hubei, China
(Dissertation title: Topological phase transition in soft materials)
Awards&
Honors
Junior Scientists Research Grant by Center for Complex Particle Systems (COMPASS), Umich, 2024
Ruth C. Hertzberg Endowed Fellowship, UW, 2018
Best Poster Award, The 8th International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics (META’17), 2017
Outstanding Undergraduate, HUST, 2017
Social Scholarship, Pacific Precision Forging Co., Ltd., 2015 & 2016
Innovation Scholarship, 2015 & 2016
National Endeavor Scholarship, 2014 & 2016
Professional Experience
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (07/2023-present)
Department of Physics, UMich, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Mechanical neural networks
In situ backpropagation to train mechanical neural networks locally
Various machine learning tasks implemented on mechanical neural networks
Research Assistant (09/2018-06/2023)
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, UW, Seattle, WA, USA
Data-driven Modeling
Model of coral tentacles motion by dynamic mode decomposition
Low-rank model of wave propagation in topological metamaterials
Model of origami dynamics by geometry-informed dynamic mode decomposition
Coral Biophysics
Motion analysis of coral tissue, coral polyps and coral tentacles
Dynamics analysis of coral bleaching in changing environment
Dynamics analysis of coral wound healing
Topological Metamaterials
Topological origami metamaterials
Spiral elastic valley topological metamaterials
Valley anisotropy
Undergraduate Research Assistant (03/2015-08/2018)
Department of Optical and Electronic Information, HUST, Wuhan, Hubei, China
Topological Metamaterials
Soft elastic topological metamaterials
Soft elastic metamaterials with tunable interface states
Media
Coverage
The paper 'Training all-mechanical neural networks for task learning through in situ backpropagation (published in Nature Communications)' was covered in UMich News, Michigan Today, Phys.org, Scientias, MindPlex, ScienceDaily, myScience, Lab Horizons, Astrobiology, EurekAlert!, Space Daily, Mirage News, Lab Manager.
The paper 'Spatiotemporal dynamics of coral polyps on a fluidic platform (published in Physical Review Applied)' was covered in Physics Magazine, PhysicsWorld.
The paper 'Digital image processing to detect subtle motion in stony coral (published in Scientific Reports)' was covered in UW News, Sciencenewsnet, ScienMag, Phys.org, EurekAlert!, Newswise, ScienceDaily, Azocleantech.
The paper 'Hollow-out patterning ultrathin acoustic metasurfaces for multi-functionalities using soft fiber/rigid bead network (published in Advanced Functional Materials)' was covered in HUST News, Sina, Polymer, Elecfans, The Acoustic Society of China. (in Chinese)
The paper 'Observation of elastic topological state in soft materials (published in Nature Communications)' was covered in HUST News, Vibunion, Cailiaoren, Cailiaoquan. (in Chinese)