Sochol Receives Early Career Award from the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering

The Institute of Physics (IOP) Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (JMM) awarded Department of Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Ryan Sochol their inaugural “Early Career Award.”

The award was the culmination of JMM’s “Emerging Leaders 2021” issue, which featured Sochol among other scientists, however, JMM selected only one researcher for the award. Sochol received the recognition for his outstanding article, “Integrated 3D Printed Microfluidic Circuitry and Soft Microrobotic Actuators via In Situ Direct Laser Writing”.

Sochol recently presented this work in a Keynote Address at the 25th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (µTAS 2021) in Palm Springs, Calif.

Sochol and his Bioinspired Advanced Manufacturing (BAM) Laboratory have garnered international media coverage for their work at the intersection of 3D printing, microfluidic circuitry and soft robotics. In particular, their cover article in Science Advances—that included a 3D-printed soft robotic hand playing Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros.”—was featured by Scientific American, CBS News and National Geographic Kids among other news outlets.

At present, Sochol and his team are working in collaboration with surgeons and researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Children’s National Hospital to leverage the BAM Lab’s 3D nanoprinting-enabled soft robot breakthroughs to create new surgical tools for neurosurgery and pediatric interventions.

Previously, Sochol received theNational Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award in 2020, and his BAM Lab received “Outstanding Paper Awards” at this year’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Conference (IEEE MEMS 2021) as well as atIEEE MEMS 2019.

Journal Reference:

Abdullah T. Alsharhan, Olivia M. Young, Xin Xu, Anthony J. Stair and Ryan D. Sochol. Integrated 3D Printed Microfluidic Circuitry and Soft Microrobotic Actuators via In Situ Direct Laser Writing. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2021; 31 (4): 044001 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6439/abec1c

This research was supported in part by U.S. NSF Awards 1943356 and 1761395 as well as U.S. ARL Award Number W911NF2020222.

Published November 17, 2021