On July 2, invited by Professor Haifeng Yu of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), College of Engineering, Professor Atsushi Shishido of Tokyo Institute of Technology visited MSE and gave a lecture entitled “Liquid-Crystalline Films: Mechanical Analysis and Photonic Applications”. Dozens of teachers and students, including Prof. Huai Yang from Peking University, Prof. Zhou Yang, Prof. Guojie Wang and Prof. Hui Cao from University of Science and Technology Beijing, Assoc. Prof. Jinbao Guo from Beijing University of Chemical Engineering attended the lecture.

Prof. Shishido introduced the research work in his group, especially the recent research on liquid crystal flexible films. Mechanical properties of flexible films are key to the design of stretchable electronic devices, wearable biointegrated devices, and soft microactuators/robots. However, existing methods are mainly based on strain-gauge measurements that require miniaturized array sensors, lead wires, and complicated calibrations. He introduced a facile method, based on surface-labelled gratings, for two-dimensional evaluation of surface strains in largely bending films. With this technique, he demonstrate that soft-matter mechanics can be distinct from the mechanics of hard materials. In particular, liquid-crystalline elastomers may undergo unconventional bending in three dimensions, in which both the inner and outer surfaces of the bending film are compressed. He also show that this method can be applied to amorphous elastomeric films, which highlights the general importance of this new mechanical evaluation tool in designing soft-matter-based electronic/photonic as well as biointegrated materials.

Prof. Shishido gave a detailed lecture about the work in his group, which greatly inspired the interests of present students. Following the talk, Prof. Shishido met with many professors of MSE and exchanged thoughts on fields of common interests. Both parties expressed willingness of future cooperation.

About Professor Atsushi Shishido

Experience:

April, 1998          Research Fellow of Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)?

 April, 2000         Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University (Prof. I.C. Khoo)?

 January, 2001     Postdoctoral Fellow, National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (NSF-MRSEC) at Pennsylvania State Univeristy (Profs. T. Mallouk, I.C. Khoo, and T. Mayer)?

 May, 2001         Assistant Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology?

April, 2005-        Associate Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology?Present

Awards:

SPSJ Hitachi Chemical Award, The Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2009)

Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science, The Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2005)