Her research focus is the bio-inspired materials with advanced functions and high performance, especially in sustainable applications, e.g., water harvesting, solar evaporations, and special wettability. Dr. Shi got her Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech and has published peer-review papers in leading academic journals including Advanced Materials, ACS Nano, Science Advances, and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Her research has attracted much attention, featured in CNN, Boston Globe, Washington Post, etc., and highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL). Her invention got the finalist in the U.S. Collegiate Inventors Competition and was fully patented.

Her teaching interests at Duke Kunshan lie in materials and chemistry courses, including but not limited to materials mechanics, bio-inspired smart materials, integrated science, analytic chemistry, and inorganic chemistry.