MechE Colloquium: Fold, Snap, and Jump: Nature-Inspired Nonlinear Mechanics for Adaptive Matter
Event details
| Date | 31.03.2026 |
| Hour | 12:00 › 13:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Mingchao Liu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract: Folding, snapping, and jumping are striking manifestations of how structures in nature and engineering harness nonlinear mechanics for adaptability. In this talk, I will present recent advances in understanding and designing such phenomena through a nature-inspired mechanics lens: from plant-like leaves that morph via differential actuation, to thin sheets and ribbons that fold and snap-through geometric instabilities, and to insect-scale robots that jump by cascading elastic instabilities. Together, these studies reveal a unified perspective on how folds, snaps, and jumps—observed in nature and recreated in the laboratory—can be distilled into transferable design principles. I will argue that such nature-inspired nonlinear mechanics offers a powerful route toward adaptive matter with programmable shape-morphing and motion-enabling capabilities.
Biography: Dr. Mingchao Liu is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. He received his B.Eng. in Engineering Mechanics from Shandong University in 2013 and his Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics from Tsinghua University in 2018. During his Ph.D., he held an Endeavour Research Fellowship at the University of Sydney in 2017. Before joining Birmingham, he was a Newton International Fellow at the University of Oxford, sponsored by the Royal Society (2018–2021), and a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (2022–2023). Dr. Liu’s research centers on adaptive and intelligent matter, using nonlinear mechanics to decode nature’s mechanical secrets and translate them into the design of engineering structures that can morph, adapt, and exhibit physical intelligence.
Biography: Dr. Mingchao Liu is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. He received his B.Eng. in Engineering Mechanics from Shandong University in 2013 and his Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics from Tsinghua University in 2018. During his Ph.D., he held an Endeavour Research Fellowship at the University of Sydney in 2017. Before joining Birmingham, he was a Newton International Fellow at the University of Oxford, sponsored by the Royal Society (2018–2021), and a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (2022–2023). Dr. Liu’s research centers on adaptive and intelligent matter, using nonlinear mechanics to decode nature’s mechanical secrets and translate them into the design of engineering structures that can morph, adapt, and exhibit physical intelligence.
Practical information
- General public
- Free