Professor Phillip Liu Elected as Academician of Academia Sinica

Professor Philip Liu has been elected as Academician of Academia Sinica by the 32nd Convocation of Academicians in Taipei, Taiwan. Liu has been recognized and honored for his expertise in the Engineering Sciences. Liu is currently on leave with CEE, serving as a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also serving as the Vice President for Research and Technology.

Academia Sinica supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from mathematical and physical sciences to life sciences, engineering sciences, humanities and social sciences. Academicians are grouped into four divisions: Mathematics and Physical, Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Life Sciences, and Humanities and Social Sciences. A maximum number of ten new academicians is elected in each of the four divisions during the biennial Convocation.

Holder of the Kwoh-Ting Lee Chair Professorship at the National Central University, Taiwan, Liu is affiliated with the Institute of Hydrological and Oceanic Sciences. He joined Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1974, where he became the Class of 1912 Professor and Director of the School from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2015. Liu is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), as well as a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Prof Liu’s research interests are in Coastal Oceanography and Engineering. He is an internationally recognized, front-line researcher in the fields of water wave theories, tsunamis dynamics, wave-breaking processes, sediment transport processes, and interactions of water waves with structures. His research approach integrates analytical, computational and experimental methodologies. Prof Liu’s numerical model COMCOT (Cornell-Multi-grid-Coupled-Tsunami-Model), based on nonlinear shallow water wave theory, has been employed by groups in many countries in developing tsunami warning system and inundation maps and assessing tsunami damage. Another of his numerical model, COBRAS (Cornell-Breaking-Waves-and Structures), which is based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, is also widely used internationally as a tool for preliminary engineering design of coastal structures, and for conducting research in wave-solid interactions, including water waves generated by a landslide.