Alice Xiong

About Me

I am a PhD student in the Daraio Group at Caltech, where I study nonlinear physics and wave dynamics. Lately, I have been interested in chains of interlocked rings that behave a lot like chainmail, which turns out to be a natural experimental platform for these physics. I build models from applied mathematics community, measure what actually happens with tabletop experiments, and identify agreements or contradictions.

I started my research journey in condensed matter theory and drifted toward a more applied physics environment. Before Caltech, I did Engineering Physics at UBC, building competition robots, soft sensors, and rocket avionics.

Outside of research, I enjoy cooking (lots of spicy food), baking, playing music (flute and French horn), journaling, calligraphy, and exploring nature with my teddy bears. Fun fact: my last name means "bear" in Chinese, and that's my favourite animal!

Outreach & Mentoring

Physics is more fun with company. My journey in outreach started in robotics, where I have refereed and judged VEX tournaments and taught programming workshops with Penguin Robotics. Within my physics journey, we run enrichment workshops for high-school students with the UBC Physics Circle, mentored students from Caltech's FUTURE outreach program, and served on student peer panels within NewFoS. I have also TA'd courses ranging from robotics instrumentation, quantum mechanics, and AI agents for science.

The gallery collects photos from that work and from the lab; Project Stories has the papers, reports, and build logs — from competition robots to nonlinear waves. I hope you find something in there that is useful, or at least fun.

Nonlinear Waves in Ring Chains

Solitary waves in 1D chains of interlocked rings: contact-mechanics modeling, embedded piezo sensors, and a route to reconfigurable nonlinearity. I am currently a PhD Candidate in the Daraio Group and my projects are supported through NewFoS (New Frontier of Sound).

A few projects I am proud of

Project Stories

Rattlesnake Rattle Acoustics

How a chain of interlocking keratin shells turns shaking into sound: discrete-element contact dynamics, modal finite-element vibration, and acoustic radiation, toward bio-inspired interlocking structures with tunable sound.

Electronic Polarons and Bipolarons

Summer research in condensed matter theory, supervised by Prof. Mona Berciu, on the feasibility of pump-probe spectroscopy to investigate the role of anion polarizability in Fe-based superconductors.

Robotic Skin Sensors

Soft capacitive skin sensors and readout circuits at the UBC Molecular Mechatronics Lab, resulting in a publication on a smart roller for automatic fiber placement machines.

UBC RoboMaster Competition Team

Mobile robots playing a real-life first-person-shooter game through integration of computer vision and precise launching.