École Normale Supérieure - PSL
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Mingqi Liu

Postdoc
École Normale Supérieure - PSL
liumq12@outlook.com


Profile

Biography

Mingqi Liu is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Laboratoire de Géologie de l'École Normale Supérieure - PSL in Paris. His research aims to develop a unified, physics-based framework for lithospheric dynamics across timescales, linking long-term tectonic evolution with short-term earthquake rupture.

Using advanced 2D and 3D numerical modeling, constrained by laboratory experiments and geological and geophysical observations, he investigates how microphysical processes—such as grain-size evolution, fluid–melt transport, and thermally activated frictional healing—interact with lithosphere deformation and fault dynamics.

His research spans geodynamics, earthquake physics, numerical modeling, and planetary tectonics.

Appointments

Academic Appointments

08/2025 - 04/2026

Postdoc, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA.

03/2023 - 08/2025

Postdoc, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.

Education

Training

Ph.D. in Geodynamics

ETH Zürich, Switzerland, 2018-2022. Advisor: Taras Gerya.

M.Sc. in Structural Geology

Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 2015-2018. Advisor: Zhong-Hai Li.

Teaching & Mentoring

Teaching and Co-Supervising

Teaching

  • Guest Lecture - GEOL 101: Principles of Geology at Texas A&M University.
  • Guest Lecture - GEOP 660: Physics (and Chemistry) of the Earth’s Interior at Texas A&M University.
  • Co-teach - GEOP 681: Deep Crust and Mantle Dynamics Seminar at Texas A&M University.

Mentoring

Co-supervise Ph.D. students at ETH Zurich, University of Southern California, and Texas A&M University.

Software

Tools

THERMOBRIX

A MATLAB package for THERMO-baric BRIttle-viscous fault dynamics simulations.

PyELVIS

An in-development Python package for post-processing and visualizing 2D/3D geodynamic models.