Lining Yao

Lining Yao is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where she directs the Morphing Matter Lab (morphingmatter.org). She also holds courtesy appointments with the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Yao’s research explores how active and morphing materials and structures can advance sustainable and responsive design for both planetary and human well-being. Her work spans the discovery of novel morphing mechanisms, the development of computational design and fabrication pipelines, and the creation of adaptive material systems that embed responsiveness into everyday life.

Her projects have been supported by major funding agencies including an NSF CAREER Award, the Department of Defense MURI, and the NSF Growing Convergent Research (GCR) program, as well as several prestigious fellowships and chair appointments. She has published in Nature, Science Advances, and leading ACM venues, and her research has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Wired, National Geographic, BBC, and other international media.

Dr. Yao received her Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab in 2017. Before joining UC Berkeley, she was a tenure-track faculty member at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. She is co-founder of the MorphingMatter4Girls Initiative, a Wired UK Fellow, a board director of the 4D Printing Society, a core faculty member of the Berkeley Institute for Robot Design, and an appointed eco-design instructor with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.