Principal Investigator
Dr. Shaoting Lin holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. He earned his Ph.D. degree (2019) at MIT and got his M.S. degree (2013) and B.S. degree (2010) at Tsinghua University. Dr. Lin has been focused on fundamental problems associated with the mechanical failures of soft materials and the longevity of soft machines. The research in Lin Research Group at MSU, at the intersection of solid mechanics, polymer science, and advanced manufacturing, aims to understand the processing-structure-property relationships of soft materials, thereby pushing the limit of mechanical and physical properties of soft materials. Our mission is to leverage Extreme Soft Materials for developing next-generation technologies including in-situ bioelectronics, sustainable water harvesting, and efficient polymer recycling. As the first/co-first author, he published 18 papers in leading journals such as Sci. Adv., Nat. Commun., Nat. Nanotechnol., PNAS, JMPS, including 4 ESI Highly Cited Papers. His research work was featured in Nature, MIT News, BBC, Bloomberg, etc. Dr. Lin was the recipient of the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad (2018), the co-founder of the EASF_Young Webinar (2020), the Executive Editorial Board Member of Giant (2022), and the Editor of the ASME Technical Committee of Mechanics of Soft Materials (2023).
Postdoctoral Researcher
Zhaohan Yu (Postdoctoral Research Associate, MSU)
Email: yuzhaoha@msu.edu
Zhaohan Yu is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Mechanical Engineering at MSU. Dr. Yu earned her Ph.D. degree in 2022 and B.S. degree in Materials Processing Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Her research focuses on the design, fabrication, and manufacturing of soft materials, with a particular focus on their applications in healthcare and sustainability.
Graduate Student
Jiabin Liu (PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, MSU)
Email: liujiab1@msu.edu
Jiabin is currently a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at MSU, supervised by Dr. Shaoting Lin. She joined Lin Research Group in the Fall of 2022 after receiving two master's degrees in Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University and Northwestern University. Her research interests include high-performing color-changing soft materials for distributed sensing. She likes hiking, watching TV shows, baking, and creating funny ideas!
Chuwei Ye (PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, MSU)
Email: yechuwei@msu.edu
Chuwei is currently a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at MSU, co-supervised by Dr. Shaoting Lin and Dr. Zhaojian Li. He received his master's degree and bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2020 and 2017, respectively. His research interests include biosensing and system integration.
Undergraduate Student
Nicole Hanshaw (Undergraduate student, Chemical Engineering, MSU)
Email: hanshaw1@msu.edu
Nicole is an undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering at MSU, supervised by Dr. Shaoting Lin. She took MSE 250 in Madrid, Spain in Summer 2022, which sparked her interest in polymer science. She is also interested in distillation, which she will further explore by taking the brewing and distilling class offered at MSU. Her current project focuses on mechano-transport in hydrogels.
Aditya Swarnkar (Undergraduate student, Mechanical Engineering, MSU)
Email: swarnkar@msu.edu
Aditya is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University, supervised by Dr. Shaoting Lin. He is passionate about exploring new engineering concepts with particular interests lie in sustainability and design. His current project focuses on polymer mechanics of soft materials.
Alumni
Aditya Tarle (Undergraduate student, Mechanical Engineering, MSU)
Email: tarleadi@msu.edu
Aditya is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at MSU, supervised by Dr. Shaoting Lin. He focuses on FEA modeling of fracture in soft tough materials. Aditya has been studying mechanical engineering with a concentration in aerodynamics. His main interest lies in cars and racing and hopes to use his skills to achieve success at the upper echelons of motorsport.
Sean Blanchard (Undergraduate student, Mechanical Engineering, MSU)
Email: blanc124@msu.edu
Sean is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at MSU, supervised by Dr. Shaoting Lin. He focuses on design and characterization of transport in hydrogels. Sean plan to work in the automotive industry after graduation. Sean is passionate about robotics and engine design.