Tsu-Jae King Liu

Liu was born in Ithaca, New York, to Taiwanese American parents who were graduate students at Cornell University. Her father's research was in the area of earthquake prediction and, as such, she spent the majority of her childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As a high-school student, Liu was given a tour of the PARC campus, where her interest in computing was stimulated by a demonstration of the Xerox Alto. She earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), a Master of Science (M.S.), and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1984, 1986, and 1994, respectively.

After graduating from Stanford, Liu joined the research staff at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Her time at PARC from 1992 to 1996 was distinguished by her work on polycrystalline thin-film transistors. In August 1996, Liu joined Berkeley as a faculty member of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. Liu has contributed to many developments in the field of semiconductor devices and technology and has co-authored over 500 papers.

Liu's leading contributions span many research areas but she is perhaps best known for the development of polycrystalline silicon-germanium thin film technology for applications in integrated circuits and microsystems. Liu is also the co-inventor of the three-dimensional FinFET transistor (fin field-effect transistor) which is the design that is used in all leading microprocessor chips today. Liu was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2017 "for contributions to the fin field effect transistor (FinFET) and its application to nanometer complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology".

She holds over 94 patents in the area of semiconductor devices and fabrication methods, with 80 patents pending as of 2017, 37 of which had been assigned to a company she founded, Progressant Technologies, acquired by Synopsys in 2004.

In her role as dean of Berkeley's College of Engineering, Liu has been outspoken about her commitment to increase diversity and foster inclusion and respect for women and members of underrepresented minorities in engineering. Prior to assuming her role as dean, Liu had served in extensive leadership roles at Berkeley. She was the faculty director of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory. From 2008 to 2012, she was associate dean for research in the College of Engineering. She served as chair of the Electrical Engineering Division from 2012 to 2014 and as chair of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department from 2014 to 2016.

She was previously senior director of engineering in the Advanced Technology Group of Synopsys.

From 2016 to 2025, Liu served as a member of the board of directors of Intel.

In 2024 she received the IEEE Founders Medal.

In September 2024, she was nominated to be next National Academy of Engineering President. Her election was formally announced in May 2025 with her term as President starting on July 1, 2025.