Xiaoyue Ni

Excited to share our latest paper in @ScienceAdvances: “Digital composites with reprogrammable phase architectures” science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… In this work, we introduce a “hard-drive” material whose solid-liquid phase patterns can be digitally rewritten on demand.

We anticipate this approach will support new capabilities in adaptive robotics, wearable systems, and mechanically reconfigurable devices that need to respond to changing functional requirements.

We selectively heat targeted voxels to rapidly program local stiffness and damping, and then retain the resulting mechanical state without continuous power—analogous to writing and storing information in a hard drive.

Excited to share our latest paper in @ScienceAdvances: “Digital composites with reprogrammable phase architectures” science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… In this work, we introduce a “hard-drive” material whose solid-liquid phase patterns can be digitally rewritten on demand.

New in Science Advances, we report a wireless, skin-mounted sensor that uses surface wave measurements to automatically assess subcutaneous tissue stiffness. Huge thanks to Chenhang @lichenhang1225 for his perseverance, and to collaborators Changsheng, Heling, Prof. John Rogers @ProfJohnARogers, Prof. Yonggang Huang, and all colleagues for their support.

@ProfJohnARogers Thank you, John! I greatly appreciate the idea exchanges and collaborations with my outstanding former colleagues at Northwestern that made this work possible!

Check out our publication in Science Advances, released today and titled “Wireless, Wearable Elastography via Mechano-Acoustic Wave Sensing for Ambulatory Monitoring of Tissue Stiffness.” science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… This paper introduces an unusual soft, skin-integrated wearable device, unique in its combined use of a sensor unit and a separately located actuator module. The actuator induces vibratory motions at the surface of the skin, thereby launching surface acoustic modes that are then captured by a sensor that consists of two adjacent, time-synchronized high-bandwidth accelerometers. Surface wave dispersion analysis of the resulting data provides the basis for a continuous, depth-sensitive estimation of subcutaneous tissue stiffness at nearly any anatomical location. Detailed benchtop studies using phantom structures and conventional ultrasound techniques validate the accuracy and reliability of this approach. Demonstrations with human subjects suggest possible applications in medicine and rehabilitation. One fun, amusing aspect of this project is that it involved our collaboration with five (!) former postdocs who are now in faculty positions at top universities around the world: @MengdiHan (@PKU1898), @HaiwenLuan (@UCSanDiego), Heling Wang (with Prof. Yonggang Huang; @Tsinghua_Uni), Changsheng Wu (@NUSingapore) and @NiLabDuke (@DukeU). This absolutely must be some sort of record! Thanks also to Prof. Yonggang Huang (@NorthwesternU) for his group’s key contributions. Main credit, however, goes to Xiaoyue and Changsheng and their students! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Back in 2015, I had a brief but unforgettable interaction with Prof. Weiss at the LSC-Virgo meeting. After my talk, he offered generous appreciation and, over lunch, thoughtfully shared detailed suggestions for improvement, handwriting every step of his derivation. I have kept that single page ever since. It carries the lasting inspiration he gave me and reminds me of what a great scientist and a great human can be. The stars will always shine.

Huge congratulations to Yun for receiving the Graduate Student Gold Award at the 2025 MRS Spring Meeting #S25MRS!
Come hear her talk on our latest work on programmable materials:
🗓️ Apr 9 | 🕓 4:00–4:15 PM
📍 Summit, Level 3, Room 322
mrs.org/meetings-event…

@JieYinLab Congratulations!!

Just received official notification of my promotion to full Professor at NC State, effective August 16! Many thanks to my amazing past and current students, mentors, colleagues, friends, and my lovely family for their incredible support throughout my journey! Journey continues!

Please consider making a contribution to this special fund that will be used by Caltech and JPL to directly support affected individuals and their families greatly impacted by this week's devastating fires in Southern California. giving.caltech.edu/areas-to-suppo…

🚀 Join us for the Duke Advanced Multifunctional Metamaterials Workshop! 🚀
📅 November 18-19, 2024 | 🕗 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM ET
Explore cutting-edge research and real-world applications in electromagnetic, acoustic, mechanical, and quantum metamaterials. 💡 The two-day event will drive collaboration, tackle key challenges, and provide insights into future advancements of multifunctional metamaterials. 🎟️ Register FREE: rsvp.duke.edu/emKgXz 🌟 Confirmed Speakers: Prof. Andrea Alù (City University of New York, USA) Prof. Amit Argawral (Cambridge University, UK) Prof. Dimitri Basov (Columbia University, USA) Dr. Alexander Cerjan (Sandia National Laboratory, USA) Dr. Houtong Chen (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA) Prof. Philipp del Hougne (French National Centre for Scientific Research, France) Dr. Art Evans (Multiscale Systems, USA) Prof. Charlie Marcus (University of Washington, USA) Prof. Kathryn Matlack (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA) Sir John Pendry (Imperial, UK) Prof. Glaucio Paulino (Princeton University, USA) Prof. Viktor Podolskiy (UMass Lowell, USA) Dr. Michael Scalora (US Army, DEVCOM, USA) Prof. Jordan Raney (University of Pennsylvania, USA) Prof. Martin Wegener (KIT, Germany) Prof. Xin Zhang (Boston University, USA)

📢We are looking for colleagues at @MITMechE , with a focus on solid mechanics and manufacturing! Please see the full announcement at meche.mit.edu/faculty-positi… - RT appreciated 🙌

Fun fact—right before his talk, I had a blood test, which made me appreciate his breakthroughs even more!

Thrilled to host Wei and witness his nonstop stream of innovative work on sweat sensing. The technologies he’s developing truly represents the future of noninvasive health monitoring. @WeiGaoLab

🚀Call for Posters: Robotsoft 2024 Workshop on Shape Morphing Robots: shapemorphingrobot.com Submit your poster by March 20th to showcase your research, connect with experts, and shape the future of soft robotics. #Robotsoft2024

Excited to be at #2023SES, catching up with friends and ready to share our latest research this Wed! @SocEngScience

Our work published in @ScienceAdvances presents origami-inspired strain sensors with large stretchability, small hysteresis, and fast response, which could be useful for measuring large and complex deformations of soft bodies. @uscviterbi_ame @uscbme science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Our lab was quoted on New York Times front page today! "Can Intelligence Be Separated From the Body?" Link: nytimes.com/2023/04/11/sci…

Check out this recent paper from our group in collaboration with @NblOsu and @lab_poirier, where we introduce rotor lattices, which are capable of undergoing beautiful order-disorder transitions, and can importantly be realized with DNA nanotechnology. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/art….