Post-Doc Opening at MIT:Bio-inspired Architectural Armor Design

 Post-Doc Opening: Bio-inspired Architectural Armor Design
Immediate opening available for post-doctoral associate to carry interdisciplinary research at the crossroads of digital fabrication and structural biological and bio-inspired materials. The purpose of this funded DOD research is to elucidate and understand structure-property relationships of biological exoskeletons using state-of-the-art multi-scale experimental and computational mechanics-of-materials methods and implementing these findings in a new fabrication technology able to dynamically mix and vary material properties on the fly. Examples of topical areas include the roles of hierarchy, multi-layering, functionally graded and geometrically-interlocking inter-phases, spatial heterogeneity, anisotropy, and confinement. The aim is to both enhance the fundamental understanding of the concept of “mechanical property amplification,” i.e. how biological systems achieve orders-of-magnitude increases in strength and toughness relative to their constituents, which occur in a non-additive manner beyond composite rule of mixture formulations; and to implement these findings in the generation of a suite of armor designs supporting weight reduction and increased flexibility / mobility without degradation of protection capabilities, improved multi-hit capability, and multifunctional performance across diverse operational environments. Experience with computational design/geometry, finite elements, CAD, Rhino, 3D printing, Solidworks, programming/scripting, desirable.
PIs include Profs. Christine Ortiz (http://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/), Mary C. Boyce (http://meche.mit.edu/people/index.html?id=11), and Neri Oxman (http://web.media.mit.edu/~neri/site/index.html).Please send CV to cortiz@mit.edu.