College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Wei Li

Assistant Professor

Dr. Wei Li’s research interests include mechatronics, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), robotics, flexible electronics, energy harvesting, smart materials, sensors and actuators. Before joining the faculty of Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Vermont, he worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC), Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at University of California, Berkeley (2017-2020); and as an Affiliate Postdoctoral Fellow in Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2018-2019). He received a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University (2014-2017). Dr. Li’s researches were reported by Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Christian Science Monitor (CSM), Voice of America (VOA), National Science Foundation (NSF), etc. He is a member of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. He has published 8 patents and is the reviewer of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Applied Physics Letters, Nanotechnology, Nanoscale Research Letters, Smart Materials and Structures, International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, etc.

Publications

Craig B. Schindler, Hani C. Gomez, Dillon Acker-James, Daniel Teal, Wei Li, and Kristofer SJ Pister. "15 Millinewton Force, 1 Millimeter Displacement, Low-Power MEMS Gripper." In 2020 IEEE 33rd International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), pp. 485-488. IEEE, 2020.

Yunqi Cao, Wei Li, and Nelson Sepúlveda. "Performance of self-powered, water-resistant bending sensor using transverse piezoelectric effect of polypropylene ferroelectret polymer." IEEE Sensors Journal 19, no. 22 (2019):10327-10335.

Wei Li, David Torres, Ramón Díaz, Zhengjun Wang, Changsheng Wu, Chuan Wang, Zhong Lin Wang, and Nelson Sepúlveda. "Nanogenerator-based dual-functional and self-powered thin patch loudspeaker or microphone for flexible electronics." Nature Communications 8 (2017): 15310.

Wei Li, David Torres, Tongyu Wang, Chuan Wang, and Nelson Sepúlveda. "Flexible and biocompatible polypropylene ferroelectret nanogenerator (FENG): on the path toward wearable devices powered by human motion." Nano Energy 30 (2016): 649-657.

Xuedong Chen, and Wei Li. "A monolithic self-sensing precision stage: Design,
modeling, calibration, and hysteresis compensation." IEEE/ASME Transactions
on Mechatronics 20, no. 2 (2014): 812-823.

Wei Li, and Xuedong Chen. "Compensation of hysteresis in piezoelectric actuators without dynamics modeling." Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 199 (2013): 89-97.

Wei Li, Xuedong Chen, and Zilong Li. "Inverse compensation for hysteresis in piezoelectric actuator using an asymmetric rate-dependent model." Review of Scientific Instruments 84, no. 11 (2013): 115003.