About

Our research group is located in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech. We foster an interdisciplinary research environment where scientists and engineers explore fundamental and applied aspects of soft materials. The Soft Materials and Structures Lab is located in Goodwin Hall and the Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Research Focus

Our research lies at the intersection of soft materials, mechanics, and functionality.   Through precise experiments and analyses, we study and exploit the fascinating interplay between material composition, geometry, and programmed deformations.  This interdisciplinary and biomimetic approach aims to create advanced, multifunctional materials with novel combinations of mechanical and functional properties, including ‘smart’ adhesives, deformable electronics and soft robotics, and adaptive materials.

Recent News

10/2020 – Paper on All-graphene-based open fluidics for pumpless, small-scale fluid transport via laser-controlled wettability patterning with Carmen Gomes (ISU) and Jonathan Claussen’s (ISU) groups published in Nanoscale Horizons.

10/2020 – Paper on macrophage adhesion to hydrophobically modified hydrogels with Katie Bratlie (ISU) and Shan Jiang’s (ISU) groups published in BioChemical Engineering Journal.

9/2020 – Paper on Conductive liquid metal elastomer thin films with multifunctional electro-mechanical properties with Ravi Shankar (UPitt) and Qibing Pei’s (UCLA) groups published in Multifunctional Materials.

9/2020 – Paper on Active Membranes on Rigidity Tunable Foundations for Programmable, Rapidly Switchable Adhesion with Dave Dillard (VT) and Kevin Turner (UPenn) groups published in Advanced Materials Technologies.

9/2020 – Paper on Modeling of Magnetorheological Elastomers with David Jiles (ISU) groups published in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

9/2020 – Review paper on Solid-Liquid Composites with Rob Style et al. published in Advanced Functional Materials.

8/2020 – The Soft Materials and Structures lab moves to Virginia Tech!

7/2020 – Lin successfully defends her PhD!

7/2020 – Ravi successfully defends his PhD!

7/2020 – Dohgyu successfully defends his Masters!

6/2020 – Prof. Bartlett and Rob Style write an editorial titled Introduction to Liquid Composites as guest editors for the special Soft Matter issue on ‘Liquid Composites.’ See the collection here.

6/2020 – Haque receives a Postdoctoral Seed Grant from the Graduate College at Iowa State.

6/2020 – Prof. Bartlett’s World Science Festival presentation has been posted on YouTube. This is from the Cool Jobs program in New York City in 2019.

5/2020 – Prof. Bartlett receives a DARPA Director’s Fellowship Award.

4/2020 –Paper on programmable liquid metal microstructures for multifunctional soft thermal composites published in Advanced Functional Materials and featured as a cover article. See the story by ISU.

3/2020 – Dohgyu receives the Research Excellence Award from the Graduate College. Read more here.

3/2020 – Haque, Ravi, Dohgyu, and Ted present at the Midwest Graduate Student Society of Experimental Mechanics (SEM) Symposium.

2/2020 – Prof. Bartlett receives the Early Career Scientist Award from the Adhesion Society.

2/2020 – Ravi receives the Alan Gent Distinguished Student Award from the Adhesion Society. Read more here.

2/2020 – Dohgyu, Ravi, and Prof. Bartlett attend and present at the Adhesion Society in Charleston, SC. Prof. Bartlett co-organized and co-chaired a session on Soft Materials for Soft Technology.

1/2020 – Dohgyu receives the Brown Graduate Fellowship.

1/2020 – Sarah is awarded the Dean’s High Impact Award for Undergraduate Research to support her research in the lab.

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We are grateful for support from the following organizations: