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Professor Kai James recently appeared on CBC Radio’s science program, Quirks & Quarks, aired on the 9th of November, 2024. During the interview, Professor James shared insights about how his recent work contributes to the understanding of the invention of the wheel. He discusses the process through which he puts together the picture of how the wheel was invented 6000 years ago.

Listen to the full episode at the link below!

Episode link: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/nov-9-new-fishing-technology-could-save-endangered-right-whales-and-more-1.7378034

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has announced that Professor Kai James has been selected as an Associate Fellow in the Class of 2025 for his dediction to excellence in advancing Multidisciplinary Optimization (MDO) in aerospace. This award is given to individuals who have accomplished or been in charge of important engineering or scientific work, or who have done original work of outstanding merit, or who have otherwise made outstanding contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics. Congratulations Professor!

Link to Georgia Tech Announcement: https://www.ae.gatech.edu/news/2024/09/ae-professors-koki-ho-and-kai-james-named-associate-fellows-aiaa

Link to AIAA Article: https://www.aiaa.org/news/news/2024/09/23/aiaa-announces-its-class-of-2025-associate-fellows

Professor Kai James and his former graduate student, Dr. Lee Alacoque’s recent paper which describes the fascinating story behind the invention of the wheel has captured international media interest, being featured by over 60 media outlets including MSN, Yahoo News, National Geographic en Espanyol and Popular Mechanics. The paper, Reconstructing the invention of the wheel using computational structural analysis and design, has received coverage spanning countries such as the United States, Canada, France, Spain, Finland, and Brazil, reflecting the universal curiosity about one of humanity’s transformative innovations. We are thrilled to see our work resonating with such a broad audience worldwide!

The DICE Lab is pleased to welcome Deon Wallace as our newest PhD student as of Fall 2024. Deon joins us from the Clemson University, where he completed his master’s degree in mechanical engineering. During his master’s studies, Deon gained valuable experience in computing and applied science, studying the influence of carbon fiber reinforcement and build orientation on the compressive properties of 3D printed onyx sanwich structures. This past summer, he interned at MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he analyzed aerothermal characteristics of hypersonic re-entry vehicles using low, medium and high fidelity computational methods.

While at Georgia Tech, Deon plans to investigate the application of topology optimization to the design of reusable hypersonic vehicles for damage prediction and mitigation.

The DICE lab is pleased to welcome Will Boynton and Daniel Oluwalana, both of whom will join the group as PhD students.

Daniel joins us from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he completed his master’s degree, which focused on shape optimization of reprogrammable mechanical metamaterials. Will completed his bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech last year and has chosen to stay for his PhD.

We look forward to working with them, and we wish both the best of luck!

In their recent paper titled “Design Synthesis of a 4D-Printed Self-Tying Knot with Programmable Morphology,” Professor Kai James and his team of graduate students present a novel computational and experimental approach for designing and synthesizing material-based mechanisms capable of intricate pre-programmed motion. They showcase their methodology by creating a self-tying knot with a pre-programmed mechanism and validating it experimentally through a 3D-printed model. This innovative method represents a significant advancement in mechanism design, promising to usher in a new era of lightweight, adaptable, damage-resistant machines that can be easily manufactured using 3D printing technology. The breakthroughs outlined in this study hold the potential to usher in an entirely novel category of technologies centered around programmable material-based robotic systems. Crucially, this capability could serve as a fundamental building block for the realization of aspirational, life-saving technologies, including but not limited to artery-clearing microrobots, self-tying sutures, and numerous other disruptive innovations that may currently seem beyond imagination.

I am pleased to announce that DICE Lab PhD students Lee Alacoque and Corey Parott successfully defended their PhD dissertations. Lee’s dissertation introduced a novel method for designing loads and supports simultaneously with material distribution in density-based topology optimization, while Corey’s dissertation presented a multi-head self-attention generative adversarial network (GAN) for multiphysics topology optimization. Lee would be joining Divergent in Torrance, CA as a structures optimization engineer.

Congratulations Lee and Corey!

In August 2022, The DICE Lab, formerly known as the CDI Lab, officially moved from the University of Illinois to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. We will continue to produce boundary-pushing research in computational design, and we look forward to forging new relationships with collaborators and sponsors while at our new institution.