MAE Associate Professor Jie Yin wins PECASE Award for novel kirigami research

Jie Yin, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), is one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2024.

The award, which is the highest honor given to emerging scientists and engineers by the U.S. federal government, recognizes his innovative research, particularly in integrating kirigami design principles into engineering.

Yin is the second MAE faculty member and seventh at NC State to receive the award.

Kirigami, based on the Japanese art of paper cutting, has only recently been used in engineering. Yin studies reconfigurable kirigami-based architected materials to achieve unprecedented properties and functionalities.

“My background is mechanics of material studies,” he said. “So my career is about the mechanics of kirigami engineering. You may have heard about origami, which is folding. Kirigami is cutting, so it creates new opportunities for the materials, for the structures, and they have totally new behaviors.”

Some of the ways Yin has already applied kirigami to his research include building a robotic gripping device, able to achieve high degrees of strength and gentleness due to the technique, and designing three-dimensional dynamic metamaterials.

Given the applications of kirigami in engineering and other STEM fields, it’s likely Yin is on the forefront of what will soon become a much larger field.

“Dr. Yin works in a very specific area, where he combines what is called traditional mechanics, the science of how things move and how they react to the environments, and stimuli,” said Srinath Ekkad, MAE department head and R.J. Reynolds Professor.

“Then he brings in what is called soft robotics, where materials can flex to do certain functions, so he combines these two new two areas for a unique topical area,” Ekkad added. “Very few people in the world can do what he does in this area. That’s why it’s so unique.”

The process of winning a PECASE award is highly competitive. Nominees must be working on innovative research relevant to the mission of their organization; have a track record of community service though scientific leadership or community outreach; and have a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion in STEM fields.

“Receiving a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers is an immense honor and a testament to Dr. Yin’s innovative research,” said Jim Pfaendtner, Louis Martin-Vega Dean of Engineering. “His creative approach to his work in mechanical metamaterials, soft robotics and other fields exemplifies the College of Engineering’s research excellence. We are proud that he is a member of our faculty.” 

Yin, who said he was excited about the recognition of his and his team’s hard work, didn’t know he won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) until he received a “congratulations” text from a friend. When he looked up the PECASE winners for 2024, he found his name among them.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy makes final decisions on the awardees. The Biden administration announced the most recent PECASE recipients on January 14, 2025.

This post was originally published in College of Engineering News.