Julie C. Liu

Julie C. Liu is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. She received her B.S.E. degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. Julie earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology where she worked with David Tirrell on elastin-based biomaterials for small-diameter vascular graft applications. She was an NIH post-doctoral fellow in Cell Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Julie’s research group focuses on designing protein-based biomaterials for tissue engineering and biomedical applications. Her group has investigated material-based microenvironments to direct adult stem cell differentiation for cartilage, bone, and vascular tissue engineering. In addition, her group is developing new soft-tissue surgical adhesives. Her work has been funded by a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, an American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

Julie has been a member of AIChE since 2001 and has chaired and co-chaired materials-related sessions in Areas 8b (Biomaterials) and 15d/e (Engineering Fundamentals in Life Science). She was elected as the Area 15d/e programming chair and also served as the chair of the AIChE Women’s Initiatives Committee (WIC). In her role with WIC, she was instrumental in increasing WIC’s impact through the development and implementation of new professional development workshops. Julie served the materials community by organizing a symposium at the 2011 Materials Research Society Spring meeting and hosting a regional Biomaterials Day meeting at Purdue. She has also organized sessions and served in leadership positions in the Society for Biomaterials (SFB). In particular, she is the chair of the Biomaterials Education special interest group and has served on the SFB Membership Committee, Finance Committee, and Education & Professional Development Committee.

Platform Statement:
As second vice chair of MESD, Julie’s goals are to create professional development opportunities, promote participation of early career chemical engineers, increase visibility of the materials research community, and facilitate communication. First, Julie plans to leverage her experience in developing AIChE workshops to increase the professional development opportunities at the annual meetings and through webinars. Her goal is to provide mentorship opportunities and promote MESD participation of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, assistant professors, and early-career engineers who work in industry and governmental labs. Another priority is increasing the visibility of the materials community’s research through new programming initiatives; one example is to expand the Faculty Candidate sessions in Area 8B (Biomaterials) to other Areas so that they may highlight engineers seeking jobs and also provide one convenient session for those who are hiring. Last, Julie plans to update the website with new developments within the MESD Division and community and to regularly update members about new initiatives.