Liu was born in Ithaca, New York, to Taiwanese American parents who were graduate students at Cornell University.

[2] 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.

In August 1996, Liu joined Berkeley as a faculty member of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department.

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 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".