Deyu Li

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Overview:

Dr. Li’s group studies nanoscale energy and mass transport phenomena to achieve both fundamental understandings and practical engineering applications. We experimentally measure energy transport through individual nanostructures and their contacts via electrons, phonons, and polaritons. We have made highly novel and intriguing discoveries such as surface phonon polariton-mediated heat conduction along SiC nanowires, superdiffusive transport of one-dimensional phonons, and non-intrinsic ballistic contact thermal resistance between carbon nanotubes, etc. In terms of mass transport, we construct microfluidic platforms to probe the electrophysiological activities of central nervous system neurons in controlled microenvironments with unique techniques such as scanning photocurrent microscopy.

Awards:

-Fellow, American Society for Mechanical Engineers, 2017
-Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Award for Research, 2013
-NSF Career Award, 2007
-Guo Moruo Scholarship, 1992