Jia (Peter) Liu, Ph.D., joins the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida as an associate professor, with a strong background in artificial intelligence-driven manufacturing systems. He earned his doctorate in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2017 and spent the last six years as an associate professor at Auburn University. Liu’s research focuses on leveraging AI and data-driven methods to advance manufacturing science with a specific emphasis on additive manufacturing. His work integrates AI and physics-based modeling to better understand the relationships between processes, microstructure, properties and performance, especially the fatigue performance of laser powder bed fusion. His recent interests also include manufacturing security for resilient and secure supply chains.
Liu has secured 12 external research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Science and Technology, Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense, totaling $32.8 million in funding. His accolades include the prestigious NSF CAREER Award in 2023, supporting his research on the modeling impacts of macro-scale geometric and microstructural features on the functional applications of complex L-PBF parts under multiaxial loadings. He also led an NSF manufacturing project focused on using federated learning to support privacy-preserving quality improvements in distributed additive manufacturing environments.
Drawn to UF for its strong AI initiatives and collaborative research, Liu is excited to lead research in AI-based manufacturing and pursue interdisciplinary collaborations. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, jogging and looks forward to exploring Gainesville.