Professor Li received his B. S. in polymer chemistry at Jilin University, China, his M. S. and Ph. D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. He was a postdoctoral director fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1990 where he later became a Technical Staff Member before joining the faculty at WSU in 2000.

Among the themes of our research are macromolecular design and engineering, advanced materials synthesis, biofunctionality and nanotechnology integration, self-assembly and supramolecular systems, surface chemistry and catalysis, and metal oxide thin films.

One of our research thrusts is to integrate biological functionalities into synthetic nanosystems using molecular self-assembly principles. The goals are to create smart systems that may function as biosensors, nanoactuators, or digital nanocomputers. If we can successfully harvest the knowledge of how biosystems function, perhaps we can apply such smart bio-nano-hybrids back to bioprocesses and test our understanding.

Another thrust aims at constructing nanostructured materials including hollow nanospheres, nanoporous polymers, and self-assembled multilayers. The research interests here range from electronic or photonic materials to controlled absorption and release of organic molecules such as drugs. The target here is to realize our design principles and synthesize new materials having novel and useful chemical, physical, or biological properties. Frequently, skills in organic, inorganic, or polymeric synthesis will be needed to prepare the target nanostructures.

In summary, our philosophy is to use novel methods to construct advanced materials, with an emphasis on molecular design and innovative approaches to demonstrate new concepts, principles, and applications in the chemical, physical, and biological sciences.