Welcome
Our group seeks to produce new function in scalable engineering materials via the nuanced, programmable control of their structural and compositional features. We work at the intersection of advanced manufacturing, applied mechanics, and materials processing to produce heterogeneous, multiscale, and tunable architectures, exploring fundamental and applied questions, such as:
- What microstructure and material combinations produce maximal mechanical properties (toughness, stiffness, etc.) while minimizing mass?
- How can materials and structural design be simultaneously optimized to produce smart materials capable of autonomous functional transformation in response to environmental cues?
- What structural arrangements in soft materials can be used to guide, divert, or localize wave phenomena?
- How do we reliably produce complex microstructures such as those associated with the above questions, and how do we do so in a scalable manner that is relevant to engineering applications?
We explore these questions using both top down (e.g., 3D printing) and bottom up (e.g., self-assembly methods, such as those exploited by microorganisms) fabrication techniques, making use of advances in manufacturing and robotics to control material architecture. Please explore these pages or contact us for more details.
