Senior Lecturer
Dr Liya Zhao
Dec. 2015 Ph.D. in Structures & Mechanics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Jun. 2009 B.Eng. in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, China
Engineering
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
PhD Opportunities: applicants are expected to have a solid background in mechanics, vibration, nonlinear dynamics, and engineering programming (e.g., Matlab). If you are interested in joining my research group, please send your transcripts (Bachelor GPA > 80/100), CV and publications (if applicable) to liya.zhao2@unsw.edu.au. For more details, visit liyazhao-lab.com
I'm also hiring casual research assistants/associates from time to time, please contact me if you are interested.
Research website: Dynamic Smart Structures and Energy Harvesting Laboratory
Dr Liya Zhao is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney). She is the recipient of the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) for 2021-2024.
She received her BEng in Civil Engineering from Tongji University in 2009, and her PhD in Structures and Mechanics from Nanyang Technological University Singapore in Dec 2015. After that, she worked as a Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University Singapore. She moved to the University of Technology Sydney in 2017 as a Lecturer and became a Senior Lecturer in 2021. She joined UNSW Sydney as a Senior Lecturer in 2022.
Her research interests include energy harvesting, nonlinear dynamics, smart materials and structures, electromechanical modelling, vibration control, aerodynamics, and piezoelectric devices. Areas of interests:
- Nonlinear Dynamics, Vibration Suppression
- Structural/material/geometric/aerodynamic nonlinearity
- Multifunctional systems for energy harvesting and vibration suppression
- Kinetic Energy Harvesting
- Nonlinear adaptive structures for 1) small-scale wind energy harvesting with aeroelastic instabilities 2) broadband vibration energy harvesting
- Advanced power extraction interfaces for energy conversion enhancement
- Human motion energy harvesting; biosensing
- Wave energy harvesting
- Smart Materials and Structures
- Adaptive devices for energy harvesting, vibration suppression, actuating and sensing
- Electromechanically coupled adaptive structures with smart materials (piezoelectric / flexoelectric / triboelectric / electret mechanisms)
- Integrated Self-Powered Wireless Sensor Networks/Active Tags
- Sustainable physiological monitoring with self-powered body sensor networks
- Sustainable smart environmental/structural health monitoring
- Sustainable object tracking
E-mail
Location
Room 301B, Ainsworth Building J17
- Publications
- Grants
Chief Investigator
Sole CI: "Low-frequency vibration test platform", MME RIS, UNSW, 2022, AUD 25,000
Sole CI: “Metastructures for Simultaneous Vibration Suppression and Energy Harvesting”, ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), Liya Zhao, 2022-2024, AUD 425,775
Lead CI: “Generating Electricity during Sound Absorption: Novel Acoustic Metastructures for Simultaneous Structure-borne Noise Attenuation and Energy Harvesting”, Blue Sky Grant, University of Technology Sydney, Liya Zhao, Xiaojun Qiu, 2019, AUD 15,000
Sole CI: “Small-scale energy harvesting with smart materials and structures”, Seed Grant, University of Technology Sydney, Liya Zhao, 2018, AUD 20,000
Co-CI: “Multi-functional metamaterials for efficient vibro-acoustic control”, Defence Innovation Network PhD Scholarship, Sebastian Oberst, Liya Zhao, 2022, AUD 100,500
Teaching Grant “Integrating online assessments for mechanical and mechatronic engineering”, University of Technology Sydney, FEIT, Paul Walker, Liya Zhao, Marc Carmichael and Enoch Zhao, 2018, AUD 5,000
Nanyang Engineering Doctoral Scholarship (NEDS) Award, Nanyang Technological University, Liya Zhao, 2011-2012, SGD 6,000
Participated in
“Broadband energy harvesting optimized for shipboard intelligent wireless sensor and actuator networks”, Office of Naval Research Global, USA, Aug 2013 – Jul 2015, SGD 47,040. PI: Prof Yaowen Yang, Nanyang Technological University Singapore.
“Small scale energy harvesting” (M4081328), NTU Research Initiative, Aug 2013 – Jul 2016, SGD 180,000. PI: Prof Yaowen Yang, Nanyang Technological University Singapore.