The Soft Materials Research Laboratory directed by Professor Qibing Pei in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles is an interdisciplinary research group developing synthetic polymers and nanocomposites for advanced electronics, electromechanical, and photonic devices. Current research activities include but not limited to dielectric elastomers for muscle-like actuation, bistable electroactive polymers for large-strain rigid-to-rigid actuation, and stretchable electronics. We anticipate availability for two postdoctoral fellows to develop functional nanocomposites, dielectric elastomer materials and actuators. One position mainly focuses on materials development, and the other on coating, multilayer stacking, and DEA actuator design and fabrication, with extensive overlapping between the two.
Required qualifications include:
1. PhD in polymer science, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, or related fields
2. Strong hands-on experience in several of these fields: materials development, synthesis of nanocomposites (e.g. graphene nanocomposites), nanomaterial processing, polymer thin film coating, compliant electrode materials, 3D printing, multilayer stacking processing, DEA actuator design and fabrication, high voltage converting circuit design and fabrication, characterization of thermal conductivity, modeling of heat transfer processes.
3. Strong communication skill and interpersonal skill
The appointment is initially for 1 year, and may be extended for up to 3 years. Interested candidates may contact Professor Qibing Pei at qpei [at] seas.ucla.edu (qpei[at]seas[dot]ucla[dot]edu) for further information.