As a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellow, Dengping proposes to engineer intelligent materials by translating properties of living systems.
Communication and the ability to adapt and self-regulate: these are essential characteristics of living organisms but are very complicated and intelligent processes that do not exist in materials design and engineering.
She hopes to integrate tiny particles capable of harvesting energy and demonstrating group intelligence with other material platforms, such as polymer gels, to create intelligent materials. These materials could have uses in biomedicine, soft robotics, and electronics.
Interdisciplinary Pivot: Chemistry to Engineering