In her research, Liu develops computational models of human and animal motion and uses them to build tools that help scientists, engineers and artists to model, simulate and design natural motion.

"The unifying theme of my research is to create truly agile and responsive virtual humans who can move and manipulate autonomously and realistically in a physically simulated world," Liu said. "The main differentiator of my research from traditional robotics or data-driven approaches is the incorporation of our partial understanding of human biomechanics, incomplete observation of motion from the real world, and limited computing resources and algorithms to design scientifically sound and practically robust computational models."

Awarded each year by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the fellowships "seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. These two-year fellowships are awarded yearly to 118 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field." The 2010 awards were announced Feb. 16.

"I plan to spend every single dollar [of this fellowship] on supporting talented graduate students," Liu added. "Without their hard work, I would not have accomplished anything."

To view the full list of 2010 Sloan Fellowship recipients, visit the foundation's website.