Research Areas:
Design, Processing and Characterization of Smart Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites, for Protective and Sustainable Built Environments

Prof. Victor Li obtained his bachelor’s degrees in Economics and in Engineering, MS in Solid Mechanics, and PhD in Solids and Structures from Brown University in 1977, 1978 and 1981 respectively. Prior to joining the University of Michigan in 1990, he was in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently the E. Benjamin Wylie Collegiate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the University of Michigan.

Prof. Li conducts interdisciplinary research at the interface between civil, environmental, and materials engineering. Specifically, his scholarly interests concern civil infrastructure materials and mechanics, including design, analysis and characterization of smart multi-functional cement-based composites, quantitative scale linking between material nano- and microstructure, composite properties, structural safety and durability, and environmental sustainability. Prof. Li led the research team that invented Bendable Concrete (with ten US patents) that is currently being adopted in the building, transportation, water and energy infrastructure sectors in China, Korea, Japan, Australia, Italy, Singapore and the US, inspiring the burgeoning growth of a ductile concrete technology industry internationally.

Prof. Li was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in 2004 by the Technical University of Denmark, in the presence of the Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. In 2005, he received the Stephen S. Atwood Award, the highest faculty achievement award that Michigan Engineering confers. He was named a Thousand Talent Specialist in China in 2013. In 2015, he was awarded the International Grand Prize for Innovation by the Construction Industry Council. Prof. Li is also a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the World Innovation Foundation.