Yimin Luo

Appointments

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science (primary)

Chemical and Environmental Engineering (by courtesy)

Education

Bachelor of Science, Rice University, 2009-2013

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania, 2013-2018

Postdoc, University of Delaware, 2018-2020

Postdoc, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2020-2022

Research Interests

Soft matter, directed assembly, liquid crystals, colloids, biophysics, mechanobiology, rheology, jamming

I am broadly interested in the functional particles that are influenced by and adapt to the complex environment they are in, and how an understanding of these systems enables us to design functional soft materials.

Past Experiences

Prior to my graduate study, I was an undergraduate researcher in Professor Matteo Pasquali’s Group at Rice University measuring the conductivity of carbon nanotube films. I spent a summer at Nanyang Technological University hosted by Professor Mingfeng Wang, learning to synthesize conductive polymers. I also designed a microfluidic chip for Schlumberger as a summer intern.

I devoted my doctoral years to studying particle migration in nematic liquid crystals with Professor Kathleen J. Stebe at University of Pennsylvania. I studied how to guide the formation of reconfigurable patterns in structured fluids. This was achieved by using boundaries to mold the orientation of the molecules. You can find my thesis here.

I used to be a joint postdoc in the Groups of Professor Norman J. Wagner and Professor Eric M. Furst at University of Delaware. My work focused on tribological, rheological, and neutron scattering investigations of systems consisting of highly concentrated, surface-modified nanoparticles. Using these techniques, I spearheaded an effort to establish a unifying framework to test the frictional contact model and shear thickening in industrially relevant systems. 

I did a second postdoc to expand my research portfolio at UCSB, where I was a joint postdoc in the Groups of Professor Megan T. Valentine and Professor Matthew E. Helgeson. I led the instrument and algorithm development fronts for microrheology and structure characterization to facilitate high-throughput material discovery within BioPACIFIC. I pursued my independent topics on cell-LC substrate interaction, with the generous support of Otis William Fellowship from the College of Engineering. My work aimed at developing reduced systems to emulate the reciprocity between cells and ECM to facilitate new medical interference for vascular pathology.