MIT Professor Rohan Abeyaratne, President of the American Academy of Mechanics, left, with Ling Liu at the Applied Mechanics Banquet at the ASME Congress. Third year doctoral studentLing Liuis the first Columbia SEAS graduate student to win the Founder Prize of the American Academy of Mechanics. Liu, whose advisor is Associate ProfessorXi Chen, was named the sole 2008 winner of the prize. The Founder Prize was established in 2000 and is awarded annually to no more than two outstanding PhD students in mechanics. It is considered one of the highest honors nationwide for PhD candidates majoring in mechanics. The selection committee was impressed by Liu''s academic and publication records, as well as the essay he wrote for the competition ""Progress through Mechanics: Nanoporous Energy Absorption/Harvesting/Actuation Systems,"" which is the theme of his doctoral thesis under the guidance of Professor Xi Chen. ""I am very pleased that Ling Liu''s work has been recognized by the American Academy of Mechanics,"" said Chen. ""This is a recognition of not only Liu''s work but also the work of all those who are associated with our research group."" Liu obtained his BS and MS degrees from Dalian Institute of Technology, in 2003 and 2006, respectively. He then won a Presidential Fellowship from Columbia University, becoming a PhD student in Professor Xi Chen''s group in 2006. Since entering the doctoral program at SEAS, he has published nine journal papers and is working on several others. His main research area is novel nano-materials for energy absorption, harvesting and actuation. He has also studied and published in nanomechanics, nanoindentation, self-assembly and thin film mechanics at SEAS. Liu was presented with the Founder Prize by MIT Professor Rohan Abeyaratne, President of the American Academy of Mechanics at the Applied Mechanics Banquet during the ASME Congress in Boston on Nov. 4. Professor Aveyaratne congratulated both Liu and Prof. Chen on Liu''s significant accomplishment. | 
