Mechanics of Soft Materials Lab

Soft materials are capable of large deformation, and have mechanical properties comparable to those of biological tissues. Recent developments in soft materials are enabling the rise of soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and biomechatronics. These new fields are profoundly altering the interactions between human beings and machines. Through the integration of analytical modeling, computational simulations and experiments, our group aims to investigate the fundamental physics and mechanics of soft materials, such as their constitutive relation, nonlinear deformation, instability, and fracture. On the other hand, our group strives to develop new materials, structures, and functions for soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and mechanical metamaterials. 

• 6/2026 Shivam, Natee, Marwan, Jonathan, Weixuan and Prof Jin presented in 20th USNC-TAM.

• 6/2026 Congratulate Yuqing for passing her preliminary exam!

• 5/2026 Congratulate Shivam for successfully defending his thesis!

• 4/2026 Congratulate Shivam for winning the Outstanding PhD Award, and Marwan for winning the Teaching Assistant Award!

• 4/2026 Marwan and Prof Jin's paper 'Constitutive and fracture behavior of double-network elastomers' was ranked as the 'Top viewed article' in Advanced Engineering Materials.

• 4/2026 Prof Jin delivered an invited talk in 2026 MRS Spring Meeting.

• 4/2026 Prof Jin delivered an invited seminar at University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

• 2/2026 Congratulate Jonathan for passing his qualifying exam.

• 1/2026 Prof Jin delivered an invited seminar at Northern Arizona University.

• 12/2025 Prof Jin was elected as a member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Engineering Science.

• 12/2025 Congratulate Boliang for successfully defending his thesis!

• 11/2025 Prof Jin delivered an invited talk in the 2025 PS-ON/Cancer Tec Joint Annual Meeting.

• 10/2025 Shivam, Jonathan and Prof Jin presented in the Technology Meeting of SES.

• 9/2025 Prof Jin delivered an invited seminar at University of Houston and Rice University.

• 8/2025 Our undergraduate students, Jeia Isabelle So, Aayush Gupta and Dekai Xu, present their posters in Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) poster symposium. Congratulate Jeia for winning the First Place for Poster Presentation, and Honorable Mention for the Oral Presentation!

• 'Macroscale simulation of post-critical behavior in flexible metamaterials‘ published in Journal of Applied Mechanics.

• 'Stress-director coupling in patterned monodomain-polydomain liquid crystal elastomers' published in Experimental Mechanics. 

• ‘Programming touch-me-not knot topologies for rapid and diverse leaping and flying motions’ published in Science.

• 'Programmable multimodal shape evolution of shape memory polymers through regulating non-equilibrium processes' published in Advanced Functional Materials.

• 'Bridging tumor biology and radiomics through an ultra-large physics-driven vascular model' published in npj Biomedical Innovations.

• 'The potential efficacy of continuous plantar foot cooling during simulated occupational heat stress - a pilot study' published in European Journal of Applied Physiology.

• 'Hydrogen evolution and dynamics in hydrogel electrochemical cells for ischemia-reperfusion therapy' published in Nature Chemical Engineering.

• 'Buckling and post-buckling of strain-softening and strain-stiffening columns' published in Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids.

• 'Fracture of liquid crystal elastomers' published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

• 'A printed microscopic universal gradient interface for super stretchable strain-insensitive bioelectronics' published in Advanced Materials.

• 'Heterogeneous subdomain strain localization for tailored behaviors in smart hydrogels' published in Nature Communications.

• 'Constitutive and fracture behavior of double-network elastomers' published in Advanced Engineering Materials.

• 'A modified semi-soft model of liquid crystal elastomers: application to elastic and viscoelastic responses' published in Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids.

• 'Haptic artificial muscle skin for extended reality' published in Science Advances.

• 'Rate-dependent and delayed snap-through behaviors of viscoelastic metamaterials' published in International Journal of Mechanical Sciences.