Chris Yakacki's blog

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor position starting Fall 2016.

This is an open search with no preferred research emphasis.

More details regarding the position, CU Denver, and life in Colorado can be found here:

Dear iMechanica,

Last July I posted a journal club entry on overcoming the traditional challenges in mechanically actuating liquid-crystalline elastomers (http://imechanica.org/node/16853). I'm glad to say we finally got our first manuscript regarding this work published in RSC Advances (DOI: 10.1039/C5RA01039J). 

Smart materials are designed to have a controlled response to external stimuli. Shape-memory polymers (SMPs) are one of the most well known classes of mechanically active smart materials and have experienced an incredible amount of research attention over the last decade. They are able to recover programmed deformations when heated above a thermal transition; however, are generally considered a one-time event. Liquid-crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are another class of actively moving polymers; however, these materials can demonstrate reversible and repeatable shape memory without the need for “re-programming” after each actuation cycle.