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Director of the Flexible Research Group

Jonathan Hopkins

Jonathan B. Hopkins

 

Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Email: hopkins@seas.ucla.edu

Phone: 310-825-8091

 

Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, 2010

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

M.S. Mechanical Engineering, 2007

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 2005

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Current Graduate Researchers

Michael Porter

 

Ph.D. Candidate

mikeporter87@gmail.com

 

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Georgia Institute of 

Technology, USA

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California,

Berkeley, USA

Started: September 2015

Research Topic:

Modeling of Optical-tweezers Systems

Samuel Shimohara

 

Ph.D. Pre-candidate

samuelshimohara@yahoo.com

 

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles

Started:  August 2017

Research Topic:

Compliant System Optimization

Ryan Lee

 

Ph.D. Candidate

ryanlee126@gmail.com

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Santa Barbara

Started:  August 2018

Research Topic:

Actively Controlled Architected Materials

Miles P. Lim

 

Ph.D. Candidate

mileslim@ucla.edu

B.A. Chemistry

Bard College

Started:  October 2018

Research Topic:

Micro-granular Crystal Microfabrication

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Amin Farzaneh

 

Ph.D. Candidate

afarz002@ucr.edu

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of Tehran

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Khaje Nasir Toosi University of Technology, Iran

 

Started: December 2018

 

Research Topic:

Mechanical Logic-based Architected Materials

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Talmage Jones

 

Ph.D. Pre-candidate

talmagehjones@gmail.com

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Brigham Young University (BYU)

Started: October 2020

 

Research Topic:

Compliant Midsole Design

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Zhidi Yang

 

Ph.D. Candidate

zhidi@g.ucla.edu

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Cornell University

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Started: April 2020

 

Research Topic:

Flexible Systems Design, Optimization, and Control

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Nigel Archer

 

Ph.D. Pre-candidate

nigelcarcher@ucla.edu 

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles

 

Started: July 2020

 

Research Topic:

SolidWorks FACT-Add-in Development

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Armin Pomeroy

 

Ph.D. Pre-candidate

arwkpom@gmail.com 

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles

 

Started: May 2020

 

Research Topic:

Compliant Auxetic Screw Design and Optimization

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Pratyush Srivastava

 

Ph.D. Candidate

pratyushucla@g.ucla.edu

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India (NIT-B)

 

Started: January 2019

 

Research Topic:

Active Metamaterial Control

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Wenzhong Yan

Ph.D. Candidate

wzyan24@g.ucla.edu

M.S. Aerospace Propulsion Theory and Engineering

Beihang University (BUAA), Beijing, China

B.E. Thermal Energy and Power Engineering

Beihang University (BUAA), Beijing, China

Started: September 2016

Research Topic:

Mechanisms that Leverage one-dimensional jamming

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Melika Ahmadi

Ph.D. Pre-candidate

melikaahmadi@g.ucla.edu

B.S. Mechanical Engineering

Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Started: October 2021

Research Topic:

Additive microfabrication of mechanical logic gates via two-photon lithography

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Ivan Biggs

Ph.D. Pre-candidate

biggsic@g.ucla.edu

B.E. Mechanical Engineering

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Started: October 2021

Research Topic:

Microgranular crystal fabrication via optical-tweezer assembly

Current Undergraduate Researchers

Brandon Reedel, “Development of an Actuated Mattress to Assess Bed Sore Prevention,” Undergraduate Student, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 07/21 to Present

Christopher Jawetz, “Creation of One-dimensional-jamming Architected Materials and Robots,” Undergraduate Student, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 05/21 to Present

Cole Ten, “Development of a SolidWorks Add-in that Uses the Freedom and Constraint Topologies (FACT) Approach to Facilitate Mechanism Design,” Undergraduate Student, University of California, Los Angeles, 02/21 to Present

Flexible Research Group Alumni

Postdoctoral Researchers and Staff Research Associates

 

1. Gaurav Singh (Postdoctoral Researcher), 03/14 to 02/15

2. Babak Haghpanah (Staff Research Associate), 02/15 to 04/15

3. Alp Karakoc (Volunteer Postdoctoral Researcher), 04/16 to 08/17

4. James Simonelli (Postdoctoral Researcher), 03/17 to 11/18

5. Lucas A. Shaw (Postdoctoral Researcher)06/18 to 09/18

6. Yuanping (Adam) Song (Postdoctoral Researcher), 07/18 to 11/18

Graduated Ph.D. Students with Theses Published from our Group

1. Frederick Sun, 01/14 to 12/17

2. Lucas A. Shaw, 07/13 to 05/18

3. Yuanping (Adam) Song, 12/13 to 05/18

4. Samira Chizari, 10/15 to 12/20

M.S. Students and other Ph.D. Students who conducted research in our Group

1. Amir Behbahani (Volunteer), 10/13 to 12/13

2. Siyu Chen (Volunteer), 01/14 to 06/14

3. Ryan Budiman (Volunteer), 01/14 to 06/14

4. Peter Dohm, 03/15 to 06/16

5. Ali Hatamizadeh, 09/15 to 03/18

6. Talmage Jones, 09/16 to 06/18

7. James Simonelli, 10/16 to 03/17

8. Rodolfo Barranco, 10/17 to 06/20

Visiting Students and Scholars

1. Arnoud Delissen (Visiting Student from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands), 05/15 to 09/15

2. Erwin Mulder (Visiting Student from University of Twente in the Netherlands), 07/17 to 10/17

3. Reinier Kuppens (Visiting Student from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands), 09/19 to 01/20

Volunteer Undergraduate Researchers

1. Spencer White, 10/13 to 04/16

2. Conner Sharpe, 10/13 to 06/15

3. Alexander Phinney, 02/14 to 05/14

4. Mitchell Barnes-Wallace, 04/14 to 10/14

5. Chuyang Cai, 06/14 to 07/14

6. Ziran Gu, 06/14 to 08/14

7. Travis Iiyama, 06/14 to 09/14

8. Brian Louie, 06/14 to 09/14

9. Rayshaun Preston (CEED), 10/14 to 12/14

10. Max Vela (CEED), 10/14 to 12/14

11. Eloy Torres (CEED), 10/14 to 12/14

12. Noor Eltawil, 10/14 to 12/14

13. Johannes Henriksson, 01/15 to 05/15

14. Edgar Lopez (CEED), 10/15 to 12/15

15. Sydney Austin (CEED), 10/15 to 12/15, and 06/17 to 06/20

16. Josue Castillo (CEED), 10/15 to 12/15

17. Samuel Carrell (CEED), 10/15 to 12/15

18. Kevin Christensen, 10/15 to 06/16

19. Matthew Turk, 01/16 to 12/16

19. David Parker, 07/16 to 08/16

20. Michael Jedynak, 08/16 to 03/17

21. Matthew Dotson, 03/17 to 05/18

22. Ryan Poon, 06/18 to 06/19

23. Nikhil Pawar, 06/18 to 06/20

24. Christopher Clavelli, 06/19 to 06/20

Summer High School Students

 

1. Jaselinne Garcia (HSSRP), 06/14 to 08/14

2. Estefania Lahera (HSSRP), 06/14 to 08/14

3. Samir Kamnani (HSSRP), 06/15 to 08/15

4. Daniel Pikula (HSSRP), 06/15 to 08/15

5. Kenneth Tochihara (HSSRP), 06/17 to 08/17

6. Victor Saldana (HSSRP), 06/17 to 08/17

7. Mark Lee, 07/19 to 08/19

8. Artina Tarokh, 06/21 to 08/21

 

 

 

 

 

 

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