麻豆传媒映画

鈥淣ature will be our teacher.鈥�

That鈥檚 a guiding philosophy for Yang Yang, an assistant professor in 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 Department of Mechanical Engineering and one of the latest in a long line of NSF CAREER award recipients at 麻豆传媒映画.

Keep Yang's belief system in mind as you consider one of the ocean鈥檚 most unusual creatures, the cuttlefish: three hearts, W-shaped eye pupils, and bones that are ultralight but fantastically strong. Cuttlebone is characterized by a complex, wavy microstructure; it has evolved over tens of millions of years to maximize energy absorption and survival in underwater pressure at depths of up to 600 meters, where plastic containers or even unreinforced vessels would collapse.

Wouldn鈥檛 it be cool if you could design a sports helmet or other materials with the same properties as cuttlebone?

Buoyed by the CAREER federal grant  鈥�  which the National Science Foundation describes as its most prestigious award for early-career faculty 鈥� Yang aims to follow nature鈥檚 rules and help find out by using a technique called bioinspired 3D printing.

鈥淭here is a critical demand for lightweight, high impact-resistant and energy absorbing materials across various sectors, including sports, medical, and consumer electronics,鈥� Yang wrote in a 15-page proposal to NSF describing his plans. Complex structures in the components of cuttlefish, nacre (a composite material produced by mollusks) and other marine organisms, he said, 鈥渙ffer inspiration for the design of next-generation products due to their low density, high strength and toughness.鈥�

A novel 3D printing process developed as part of his research, Yang said, could be a better way of reproducing the high impact-resistance of these structures than transitional casting and molding techniques.  

鈥淲e can use it, for example, in sports,鈥� Yang said. Modern helmets replace foam with a honeycomb structure to absorb energy but the focus of his research, heterostructured hybrid materials, could make them even stronger. 

Additional potential applications could include biomedical engineering, such as wearable devices to help bones heal.

Bioinspired 3D printing emerged in the early 2000s. mentions developments inspired by wheat awn, abalone shells, plant stems and wood. Yang wrote about a preliminary phase of his work on the topic in .

Attracted by a job opening announcement that seemed to match his research interests, Yang came to 麻豆传媒映画 in January 2020 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California.

His office on the fourth floor of the Engineering building is appropriately decorated with seashells, 3D prints of a seahorse and starfish, and his own drawing of the Chinese character for 鈥渓ucky,鈥� created for a Chinese New Year festival and posted both on his door and behind his desk. 

Five-year grant

Announced in June, the Faculty Early Career Development Program award carries a grant of more than $637,000, some of which Yang said he will devote to hiring one or two Ph.D. students to assist in his first-floor Additive Manufacturing & Advanced Materials lab. The award is for a five year period; Yang鈥檚 proposal to NSF actually outlines work he hopes to perform over the next 20 years. 

Yang previously received more than $386,000 in NSF support for his work. This was his first try for a CAREER award.

As the name suggests, the NSF CAREER award often provides the basis for an entire career of research. NSF records show 36 recipients at 麻豆传媒映画 since 1997 (including at least one who was hired by 麻豆传媒映画 from a different university after receiving the award). All but two of them are still at 麻豆传媒映画.

They include Eugene Olevsky, recipient of a 2000 award for his now internationally recognized work in a field of materials processing called sintering, who as dean of engineering supported Yang鈥檚 application.

鈥淒r. Yang鈥檚 NSF CAREER Award is a remarkable achievement that reflects both his innovative research in bioinspired 3D printing and his dedication to advancing engineering at 麻豆传媒映画,鈥� Olevsky wrote in a message to NewsCenter. 鈥淎s a past CAREER awardee, I know how transformative this recognition can be in supporting early-career faculty and building impactful research programs.

鈥淭his accomplishment brings great distinction to the College of Engineering and to 麻豆传媒映画, and I am proud to see Dr. Yang鈥檚 work recognized at the national level.鈥�