2024

• 2024/03: Dr. Cao visited the Department of  Mechanical Engineering, UC Riverside, and delivered a seminar talk on our recent work in soft electronics and soft robots! 

• 2024/03: Dr. Cao has been selected for the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship. He will collborate with scientists at AFOSR for some exciting projects in the summer! 

• 2024/03: Dr. Cao attended the 2024 TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition, and co-orginized the symposium: Printed Electronics and Additive Manufacturing: Advanced Functional Materials, Processing Concepts, and Emerging Applications, Orlando, FL, March 3-7, 2024. 

• 2024/01: Dr. Cao attended the GRC - Robotics conference held in Ventura, CA. 

• 2024/01: Dr. Cao attended the CES Exhibition with other Veale Faculty Fellows from CWRU. Thanks for the support from CWRU Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship. 

2023

• 2023/12: Yunwei's paper on "Worm-Inspired, Untethered, Soft Crawling Robots for Pipe Inspections" has been accepted for publication in Soft Robotics. Congrats! 

• 2023/12: Zhida has successfully defended his Ph.D. degree. Congratulations on his significant milestone in life! Good luck with his future endeavors! 

• 2023/11: Huigang has been awarded the Horsburgh Fellowship from the MAE Department, which is supported by the Case Alumni Association. Congratulations! 

• 2023/10: Yaokun's review paper on Marine biomaterial-based triboelectric nanogenerators has been published in Nano Energy! Congrats! 

• 2023/09: Zhida's paper on numerical modeling and prediction of the nanoparticle sintering process of printed electronics has been accepted for publication in Engineering with Computers! Cheers!  

• 2023/08: Yaokun's paper on the smart packaging system via Desiccant-based Triboelectric Nanogenerators has been published in Nano Energy! It is reported by CWRU's The Daily "Smart packaging of the future?" 

• 2023/08: Our project on wave energy harvesting has been funded by a DOE STTR grant. Congratulations to the team! Thank you all for your contributions! 

• 2023/08: Dr. Cao attended the USDA-NIFA PI Meeting held at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This is the first in-person meeting held since Covid-19. Nice to meet with many friends there.  

• 2023/07: Zhen's review paper on anisotropic hydrogels has been accepted for publication in Matter! Congrats and thanks for the contributions from all the collaborators!  

• 2023/06: Dr. Cao attended the MSEC held at Rutgers University and met many old and new friends there! 

• 2023/06: Dr. Cao has been selected as the Veale Faculty Fellow of CWRU. Cheers! 

• 2023/05: Congratulations to Zhida and Huigang for receiving the CWRU Horsburgh Scholarship! 

• 2023/05: Congrats Zhida for obtaining the Ruth Barber Moon Award!

• 2023/04: Dr. Cao gave a guest lecture at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering of Washington State University!  

• 2023/04: Dr. Cao completed the NSF I-Corps Program. Thank the UARF I-Corps Administrators and mentors for organizing the workshop and giving guidance!  

• 2023/04: Huigang's paper on printed hydrogen sensors has been accepted for publication in IEEE Sensors Letters! Congrats! 

• 2023/03: Renjie successfully defended his Ph.D. degree. Congratulations on the significant milestone, Dr. Ke! 

• 2023/01: Dr. Cao visited The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the University of Virginia and gave an invited talk!  

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2022

• 2022/12: Dr. Cao has won the 2022 iCANX Young Scientist Award. Congratulations! 

• 2022/12: Dr. Kenan Song from Arizona State University delivered a seminar talk at CWRU titled “Advanced Composites: the Processing-Structure-Property Relationships in Layered Micro- and Nanostructures”! Great talk; very inspiring! 

• 2022/11: Dr. Cao attended the CHASE 2022 conference in Washington, DC. A fantastic event and meeting many old and new friends. 

• 2022/10: Dr. Cao delivered a Guest Lecture on bioinspired robots and devices for the course "Bioinspired Science and Technology" at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Johns Hopkins University. Thanks for the invitation from Prof. Sung Hoon Kang!  

• 2022/10: Dr. Cao gave two invited talks on soft robotics and 2D materials at the SES annual Meeting, TAMU, Texas. Thank Jie Yin and Qing Tu for organizing the wonderful symposiums! 

• 2022/09: Dr. Cao gave a seminar talk in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Dearborn! Glad to talk with the faculty there!  

• 2022/08: Dr. Cao has won a prestigious CWRU Faculty Innovator Award. This award is given to select faculty whose work in this area meets the highest standards for excellence and impact. 

• 2022/07: Our work on a newly developed human-machine interface to assist the disabled has been reported by CWRU's The Daily: Operating a ‘smart home’ by breath control

• 2022/07: Dr. Cao has joined the editorial board of Advanced Electronic Materials (Wiley) (IF: 7.633)

• 2022/06: Dr. Cao gave an APT Medical Center Town Hall Talk for recent work at SME Lab in soft electronics and machines! Look forward to future collaborations with other colleagues in the APT center.  

• 2022/06: Yaokun's paper on the self-powered human-machine interface to control intelligent facilities has been accepted for publication in Advanced Materials Interfaces! Congrats! 

• 2022/05: Our collaborative work on soft claiming robots, in collaboration with Prof. Hongyan Yuan's group, has been accepted for publication in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics! Cheers! 

• 2022/04: Welcome the new group members of SME Lab: Huigang, Yen-Chun, Shuyuan, and Kaiwen! Look forward to seeing you on campus! 

• 2022/04: Dr. Cao will serve as the Guest Editor, Special Issue "Soft Sensors for Industrial Processes", Sensors (IF 3.576), 2022. 

• 2022/03: Yaokun's paper on the textile-based multifunctional tactile sensor has been published in Nano Energy! Congrats! 

• 2022/02: Our work on e-textile and personalized body temperature management has been reported by CWRU's The Daily : A new way to ink: Next step in wearable tech? Cheers!  

• 2022/01: Our collaborative work on soft robotics modeling with Prof. Hongyan Yuan's group has been accepted for publication at Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica! Congratulations!  

• 2022/01: Bin Tian's Paper on e-textile and personalized body temperature management has been published in Small. Cheers!  

 

2021

• 2021/12: Welcome Jiaji to join our group for his PhD study! Look forward to your exciting achievements in the future journey!  

• 2021/11: Xianchen's Paper on multifunctional Metamaterials for Energy Harvesting and Vibration Control has been published in Advanced Functional Materials. Good job! 

• 2021/11: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Thanks for the invitation! 

• 2021/10: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL. Thanks for the invitation! 

• 2021/10: Xiaomin's paper titled "Worm-inspired Soft Robots Enable Adaptive Pipeline and Tunnel Inspection" has been published in Advanced Intelligent Systems. Thanks for the invitation from the Chief Editor!  

• 2021/10: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV. Thank Prof. Kostas Sierros for the invitation! 

• 2021/09: Yaokun has been offered a faculty position at Qingdao University, China! Congratulations and good luck with your future endeavor. We will miss you! 

• 2021/08: Our collaborative work with Prof. Xing Feng has been published in Small. In this work, ferrocene-based Organic Small Molecule was used to develop new stimuli-responsive materials for wearable sensors and energy harvesters. Cheers! 

• 2021/07: Our collaborative project on hydrogen sensors for pipeline leakage detection has been funded by DOE-STTR. Congratulation to the team!

• 2021/04: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk at the IEEE-NEMS 2021 on our work recent work in the field of soft electronics and soft robotics. Look forward to the gathering next year! 

• 2021/04: Printed electronics and nanosensors for intelligent packaging at MSU! (IAPRI) 

• 2021/04: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Texas at Austin, TX.

• 2021/04: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

• 2021/03: Prof. Teri Odom from Northwestern University gave an invited talk at MSU titled “Quantum Dot Plasmon Nanolasers”! Thank Teri for the wonderful talk! 

• 2021/03: Shoue's paper on Soft Robotic Manipulation systems has been accepted for publication in Advanced Materials Technologies. Good job! 

• 2021/02: Prof. Shu Yang from the University of Pennsylvania delivered a seminar talk at MSU, titled “Programming Intelligence through Geometry, Topology, and Anisotropy”! Thank Shu for the great talk!

• 2021/02: Prof. John Hart from MIT Mechanical Engineering to deliver a seminar talk at MSU on “Metal Additive Manufacturing"! Very inspiring and interesting work! Thank John for the great talk!

• 2021/01: Prof. Julie M. Goddard from the Department of Food Science, Cornell University, gave a talk on active packaging technologies! Thank Julie for the wonderful talk!

• 2021/01: Yaokun's paper on a hybrid energy harvesting system has been published by Matter! Cheers!  

 

2020

• 2020/12: Heyu's paper on soil sensors and plant wearables has been published in Advanced Materials. Good job!  

• 2020/11: Yihao's paper on 4D printing of stretchable supercapacitors has been accepted for publication by Advanced Materials Technologies. Cheers!  The story is reported by MSU Today and many others! 

• 2020/11: Our new US patent has been filed to USPTO by MSU Technologies. Cheers!  

• 2020/10: Yunwei's paper on precision processing has been published in Advanced Engineering Materials. Cheers!    

• 2020/10: Our proposal on printed electronics for smart packaging has been funded by USDA-NIFA! Thanks for the support!   

• 2020/10: Yaokun's review paper on a hybrid energy harvesting system has been accepted for publication by Matter! Cheers!   

• 2020/08: Our proposal on soft collaborative robotics has been funded by NSF, congratulations to the great team. Our group will design and improve our soft robotic grippers and arms in the next four years!  

• 2020/08: Our work on self-powered forest fire alarm systems is highlighted in Science! Cheers! 

• 2020/07: Xiaomin's work on soft robotic hands has been reported by MSU Today, Robotic Report, EurekAlert, Phys.org, 

• Nanowerk, IDTechEx, ScienceDaily, and many others.

• 2020/06: Yaokun's paper on a novel self-powered fire alarm system has been reported by MSU Today, EurekAlert, Phys.org, ScienceDaily, ENN, Nanowerk, IDTechEx, SunriseTechno, and many others. 

• 2020/05: Yaokun's paper on a novel TENG-powered sensor system has been accepted for publication by Advanced Functional Materials. Congrats!  

• 2020/04: Xiaomin's paper has been accepted for publication by Soft Robotics. Congrats! 

• 2020/03: Kexin's paper has been accepted for publication by ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

• 2020/03: Our work on stretchable Au-CNT forest-based supercapacitor has been published online in Matter. The research has been reported by ScienceDaily, Phys.org, Nanowerk, News Break, Duke Research, and others. 

• 2020/03: Shoue's Paper has been selected to be featured on the inside cover of the upcoming issue of Advanced Materials Technologies! Congrats! 

• 2020/02: Yihao's paper on robust stretchable supercapacitors from MXene and RGO composites has been accepted for publication by ACS Nano. Cheers!

 

2019

• 2019/12: ​Yin's paper on modeling magnetoactive elastomers has been accepted for publication by the International Journal of Applied Mechanics. Congrats!

• 2019/12: ​Congratulations to Juan and Shoue for winning the award of "The 4th China Sustainable Packaging and Safety Design Innovation Contest”. Good job! 

• 2019/11: ​​Shoue's review paper on soft robots has been published in Advanced Materials Technologies. Thank all the co-authors! Cheers!

• 2019/11: Dr. Cao delivered an invited talk at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) and visited the University of Tennessee and the Joint Institute of Advanced Materials. Thank Pooran and Yanfei for their kind host and the delicious food!  

• 2019/10: ​Dr. Cao attended the NextFlex workshop and visited Prof. Kejie Zhao's Lab and Prof. Wenbin Yu's Lab at Purdue University! Thank you all for the warm reception! 

• 2019/10: Dr. Cao hosted Prof. Nadia Lapusta from Caltech to give the Midwest Mechanics Seminar! 

• 2019/09: Changyong, Shoue and Kexin attended the Pack Expo held in Chicago! Great experience and lots of fun! Expect next time in Las Vegas!   

• 2019/09: 2​​Yaokun's review paper on 3D printed batteries has been accepted for publication in Advanced Functional Materials (IF: 15.621). Congrats! 

• 2019/09: Prof. Benedetto Marelli from MIT visited SME Lab and gave an invited talk on structural biopolymers at Packaging School 

• 2019/09: ​​Ling's paper on the new contact model of joint surfaces has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Applied Mechanics. Congrats! 

• ​​2019/09: Yaokun's paper on a novel hierarchical structured triboelectric nanogenerator (HS-TENG) has been accepted for publication in Nano Energy (IF: 15.548). Congrats! 

• 2019/06: Our new paper has been accepted for publication in Smart Materials and Structures. Good job! 

• 2019/04: Our research work has been reported by MSUToday, Science Daily, NanoWerk, Techxplore, EurekAlert, Agenparl, PioneeringMinds, AZONano, Medgadget.

• 2019/04: Our paper on Highly Stretchable Supercapacitors via Crumpled CNT-Forests has been accepted for publication in Advanced Energy Materials  (IF: 24.88).  Cheers! 

• 2019/04: Congratulations to Shoue and Kexin for awarding the CANR fellowship funds for their summer work. 

• 2019/04: ​Yin's paper "Phase Transition and Optimal Actuation of Active Bilayer Structures" has been accepted for publication in Extreme Mechanics Letters.  Congrats!  

• 2019/02: We invite you to contribute to Topic 25:  Material Processing of Flexible Electronics, Sensors, and Devices, in Track 10 of IMECE 2019. Look forward to seeing you in Salt Lake City, USA, November 8 - 14, 2019. 

• 2019/01: We invite you to contribute to Topic 5:  Mechanics and manufacturing of soft materials and soft robots and Topic 6: Mechanics modeling of soft robots in Track 12 of IMECE 2019. Look forward to seeing you in Salt Lake City, USA, November 8 - 14, 2019. 

 

2018

• 2018/11: ​Yihang's paper has been accepted for publication in Advanced Science!  Good job! 

• 2018/10: ​Our new review paper on stretchable supercapacitors has been accepted for publication in Small !  Cheers! 

• ​2018/10: Dr. Cao attended the IMECE 2018 in Pittsburgh between Nov. 10-15, 2018, and gave invited talks for our work on printed electronics and soft active materials!  

• 2018/09: Changyong, Shoue and Kexin attended the Pack Expo held in Chicago! Great experience and lots of fun! Expect next time in Las Vegas!   

• 2018/07: Dr. Cao co-organized a symposium: Mechanics of Soft Materials with Multi-physics: From Deformation to Failure in 13th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM2018 ) in New York City, July 22-27, 2018! 

• 2018/06: Dr. Cao gave an invited talk at the 18th U.S. National Congress for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (Northwestern University) in Chicago, IL, June 4-9, 2018. 

• 2018/06: Welcome our new group member Dr. Yin Liu, who joins us as a research associate! 

• 2018/04: Changyong attended the 2018 MRS Spring Meeting in Phoenix, AZ, to present our work on printed electronics and sensors!    

• 2018/03: Changyong gave an invited talk at MSU Electrical and Computer Engineering! Thank you, Prof. Xiaobo Tan, for hosting the event!   

• 2018/02: Congratulations to former group member Xiao Wang for admission into the MS program at Stanford University! Great job!  

• 2018/02: Prof. Michael Dickey from NC State University visited our lab and gave a talk on " Soft, Stretchable, and Reconfigurable Materials for Electronics and Actuators" and discussed possible collaborations for the future!  

 

2017

• 2017/10: Our collaborative work on high-performance room-temperature processed perovskite solar cells has been published in Energy and Environmental Science! Congrats! 

• 2017/10: Dr. Cao attended the 2017 New England Mechanics Workshop held at MIT and talked with many old and new friends there! Great experience!

• 2017/07: Our collaborative work with Prof. Lingchong You's group on bacteria pressure sensors has been published in Nature Biotechnology,  and reported by many media. Congratulations to all the authors! 

• 2017/05: Our new paper on noninvasive materials thickness sensors enhanced through aerosol jet-printed metallic carbon nanotube ink has been accepted for publication in IEEE Sensors!  Cheer! 

• 2017/04: Dr. Changyong Cao won the 2nd Prize at the 2017 Mahato Memorial Envisioning the Invisible Photo & Image Contest, cheers!

• 2017/04: The work on fully printed memristors collaborated with Prof. Ben Wiley Group has been published in the Journal of Electronic Materials, titled "Fully Printed Memristors from Cu–SiO2 Core-Shell Nanowire Composites"! The research work was reported by many media, such as ScienceDaily, Duke Research, Atma 360, Eastday, and PEOL.  Cheers!

• 2017/03: Dr. Changyong Cao gave an invited talk at Iowa State University! Thank you for the invitation!  

• 2017/02: Our paper "Completely Printed, Flexible, Stable and Hysteresis-Free Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors via Aerosol Jet Printing "has been accepted by Advanced Electronics Materials! Cheers!

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