2024/12: AFOSR Program Manager Dr. Andrew Stickrath tours our lab!
2024/12: Welcome a “new” lab member!
Senior ASE/EM undergraduate student Junyoung Kim has accepted the offer to join the Master’s Program in the ASE/EM department in the 2025 Spring semester! We are excited to see that you will stay with us do keep the research going!
2024/11: 2024 Lab member is awarded with the competitive UT-Austin Undergraduate Research Fellowship!
Our senior undergraduate student Junyoung Kim has been awarded the competitive UT-Austin Undergraduate Research Fellowship in 2024 Fall semester!
2024/11: First co-organized ASME IMECE conference session!
Together with Profs. Hanxun Jin, Miguel Bessa, and Horacio Espinosa, we have successfully organized a conference session titled as “Topic 12-11 Scientific Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantificaiton Methods for Experimental Mechanics” at the 2024 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) conference.
2024/11: Prof. Kaushik Bhattacharya’s 60th Birthday Symposium!
It is such a great pleasure and honor for Dr. Yang to come back to Caltech and present our group’s research updates about DIC/DVC methods and laser-induced cavitation experiments to celebrate Dr. Yang’s PhD advisor Prof. Kaushik Bhattacharya’s 60th birthday! With over 20 talks and a “Future Directions in Solid Mechanics and Allied Fields” panel discussion, this “family-reunion” mechanics of materials symposium includes Kaushik’s mentors, students, friends, collaborators, and colleagues to refresh many good memories, to share recent research outcomes, and most importantly, to celebrate Kaushik’s birthday. [Link: https://kb60.caltech.edu]
2024/10: ORAU Innovation Partnerships Award!
We are thrilled to receive the ORAU Innovation Partnerships Award to support the 2025 Southern Experimental Mechanics Student Symposium event in 2025 Spring.
2024/09: Dr. Yang has received the Pilot Seed Grant from the Semiconductor Research Corporation!
We are excited to be awarded a prestigious $25,000 pilot seed grant from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) to support cutting-edge research in semiconductor packaging. The focus of this innovative research is on enhancing the understanding of interfacial fracture behavior in semiconductor packaging. By developing advanced experimental techniques like Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Digital Volume Correlation (DVC), Dr. Yang aims to characterize material properties in both 2D and 3D multilayered structures, which are crucial for the next generation of semiconductor technologies. These methods will provide high-fidelity data that will improve predictive modeling and the overall reliability of semiconductor packages.
2024/09: Dr. Yang has received the IMECE Faculty Travel Grant sponsored by NSF!
Dr. Yang was selected for the IMECE Faculty Travel Grant sponsored by NSF. We appreciate NSF and IMECE’s support!
2024/08: Welcome our new PhD and undergraduate research students!
Our lab is excited to welcome our new members Sicong Wang and Yujie Zhang as our lab’s new PhD students majoring in Engineering Mechanics! We are also glad to welcome Landon Roper (ME) and Qihang Shi (COE) as undergraduate research assistants.
2024/08: We got human kidney stone samples from our collaborated project with UT Dell Medical School!
2024/08: Lab activity: Escape room from downtown Austin!
2024/06: ONR Program Manager Dr. Tim Bentley toured our lab!
2024/06: Welcome our summer research undergraduate: Landon Landis!
2024/06: Our lab presented at the 2024 SEM Annual Conference!
2024/05: First Southern SEM Student Symposium at LSU!
2024/05: Our graduate students have received the travel award from Cockrell School of Engineering!
2024/05: Dr. Yang received the Academic Development Fund from the Cockrell School of Engineering!
We are thrilled to receive the 2024-2025 Academic Development Fund (ADF) from the Cockrell School of Engineering to enhance the ASE 324L Aerospace Materials Lab course for all undergraduate students majoring in Aerospace Engineering. ASE 324L stands at the forefront of preparing undergraduate students in aerospace engineering with practical, hands-on experience in materials testing and analysis. During the past two decades, lots of advanced experimental techniques have been fast developed, among which Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technology is pivotal in non-invasively measuring strain and deformation in materials under stress, offering unparalleled insights into material behavior. This fund will generously support our new integration of Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technology, coupled with machine learning (ML) for data post-processing, into the lab curriculum represents a significant step forward.
2024/04: Dr. Jin Yang was invited to present a seminar at UT-Austin Acoustics group!
Dr. Yang was invited to present a seminar at UT-Austin Acoustics group!
2024/04: Lab member Andrew Doty receives the Undergraduate Research Scholarship!
Our lab member undergraduate Andrew Doty receives the prestigious Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the Senate of College Councils! This scholarship covers specific costs associated with academic research projects. Up to three applicants over the entire campus will receive this scholarship based on their demonstrated need for funding and the merit of their application (link for more details about this scholarship). Congratulations, Andrew!
2024/03: Undergraduates Jeffrey Leu and Griffin Radtke receive Stanford and Harvard PhD offers!
Our lab member undergraduate Jeffrey Leu has received multiple top school PhD offers. He decides to go to Standard Department of Mechanical Engineering to pursue his PhD degree. Our former undergraduate mentee Griffin Radtke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will pursue his PhD degree at Harvard University. Congratulations, Jeffrey & Griffin!
2024/02: New accepted Experimental Mechanics paper:
Building on our prior works using Inertial Microcavitation Rheometry (IMR), we further show that the choice in finite-deformation, rate-dependent constitutive model can be informed directly by the type of crosslinking mechanism and resultant network structure of the hydrogel, thus providing a chemophysical basis of the choice of phenomenological constitutive model. Please check it out here … read more
2024/01: Welcome new members: Andrew Doty, Yi-Chung Wang, Junyoung Kim, and Nathaniel Beasley!
We are excited to have four outstanding undergraduates to join us as undergraduate research assistants. Andrew Doty, Junyoung Kim, Yi-Chung Wang, and Nathaniel Beasley are junior Aerospace Engineering students. Welcome on board!
2024/01: Dr. Yang has attended NETI-1 Course Design & Student Engagement Workshop: 
2023
2023/12: New accepted Physics of Fluids paper has been selected as Featured Article:
By harnessing sound, the viscoelastic properties of soft opaque materials at high strain rates (> 1,000 1/s) can be decoded based on a modified Rayleigh cavitation bubble collapse time. Congratulations on our newly accepted Physics of Fluids paper being selected as a Featured Article: “Estimating viscoelastic, soft material properties using a modified Rayleigh cavitation bubble collapse time.” Please check it out here … read more
2023/12: Shimadzu ultra high-speed camera HPV-X2 has arrived! Shimadzu Hyper Vision HPV-X2 ultra high-speed camera has arrived. HPV-X2 can capture extremely fast-rate dynamic events at 10 million fps with 100k pixels per frame. Please stay tuned for more cool videos/images from our lab in the future! … read more
2023/11: Two abstracts have been accepted by the 2024 SEM Annual Conference!
Our group has two abstracts that have been accepted by the 2024 SEM (Society for Experimental Mechanics) Annual Conference recently. Congratulations, Lehu Bu, Zach Tong, and our former summer undergraduate research students Sophie Polidoro, and Zhaobang Hou!
2023/11: Dr. Yang received a VPR Special Research Grant
Dr. Yang received the 2023-2024 Special Research Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) at UT-Austin. Congratulations!
2023/11: New Experimental Mechanics paper alert:
Intermediate-strain-rate mechanical testing of soft and biological materials is important and challenging when designing, measuring, predicting, or manipulating an object or system’s response to common impact scenarios. To address these challanges, we developed open source micro-mechanical test instruments that provide high spatial and temporal resolution volumetric strain field measurements, non-destructive testing and gripping of soft materials with low elastic moduli, programmable strain rates spanning from 10^−6 (1/s) to 10^2 (1/s). Please check it out here … read more
2023/11: 2023 ASME IMECE Conference
We are honored to present our research work at the 2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) conference to celebrate Prof. Arun Shukla being awarded the prestigious ASME Daniel C. Drucker Medal! Congratulations, Dr. Shukla, and thank you for all your efforts in leading the dynamic experimental techniques and high-rate solid mechanics research areas!
2023/10: 2023 SES Conference
Dr. Yang presented our research progress at the 2023 Society of Engineering Science (SES) Annual Technical Meeting in Minneapolis!
2023/10: Group member Jeffrey Leu receives UT Undergraduate Research Fellowship!
We are thrilled to announce that Jeffrey Leu, our senior undergraduate research student, has received the UT Undergraduate Research Fellowship to support his research proposal “Efficient and Accurate Material Property Extraction from Data-Driven Digital Image Correlation Designs and Tests“. Congratulations, Jeffrey! … read more
2023/09: Dr. Yang received a Faculty Travel Grant
Dr. Yang received the 2023-2024 Faculty Travel Grant from the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at UT-Austin to support his conference travel.
2023/09: Nikon AX confocal microscope has arrived at our lab!
We are excited to share our lab’s new instrument — Nikon AX confocal camera — has been installed. More cool microscopy images are on their way! Thank Jon Ekman, Anil Shukla, and Jacob Burnett for helping us set up our equipment! … read more
2023/09: Our graduate students received UT Graduate Fellowship!
Congratulations to our graduate students Lehu Bu and Zixiang Tong on receiving the UT Cockrell School of Engineering Fellowship! Please keep doing excellent jobs!
2023/09: Welcome new members & first group photo!
After an “intense” and highly productive summer of research, we are thrilled to welcome three new members to our group: Dan Frolkin, Lehu Bu, and Zixiang Tong. They will officially join us starting in the fall of 2023. Welcome aboard!! … read more
2023/08: New paper alert: ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering!
Our new paper “Optomechanically Actuated Hydrogel Platform for Cell Stimulation with Spatial and Temporal Resolution” has been accepted by ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. This work was led by Prof. Khalid Salaita @Gatech & Emory University — Department of Biomedical Engineering, and in collaboration with Prof. Christian Franck @University of Wisconain-Madison. Congratulations! … read more
2023/08: Our group and our developed open-source AL-DIC/DVC codes are highlighted by iDICs!
We would like to express our gratitude to iDICs (International Digital Image Correlation Society) for highlighting our research group and our developed open-source augmented Lagrangian Digital Image/Volume Correlation (AL-DIC/DVC) methods! Thank you, iDICs! … read more
2023/07: We received a NSF grant to explore fast rheometry of graded hydrogels using laser-induced inertial cavitation!
Our collaborative research proposal about “Integrated Experiments and Modeling for Spatial, Finite, and Fast Rheometry of Graded Hydrogels using Inertial Cavitation” is funded by NSF! More details can be found here. Thank you for supporting our research idea, NSF! … read more
2023/07: Sophie Polidoro has been selected as the Frank W. Wood SURF Fellow! Congratulations!
Announcing a remarkable achievement: Sophie Polidoro, our dedicated undergraduate researcher, has been chosen as the esteemed Frank W. Wood SURF Fellow! Warmest congratulations, Sophie! Additionally, we extend our sincere gratitude to the generous donor who has made it possible to bolster her summer research endeavors here at the iconic 40 acres of UT-Austin! … read more
2023/07: Dr. Jin Yang was selected to attend the Impact Research Workshop @Johns Hopkins, HEMI!
PI Dr. Jin Yang was selected to attend the 2023 workshop on impact research experiments, which was hosted by the Johns Hopkins University’s Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI), in collaboration with the Materials Science in Extreme Environments (MSEE) University Research Alliance. … read more
2023/07: Welcome our summer student: Zhaobang Hou!
Zhaobang Hou, presently an undergraduate enrolled in the Tsien Class Elite Program at Tsinghua University, will stay with us for 2 months this summer as an undergraduate student researcher. A warm and hearty welcome to Austin, Zhaobang! May your time here be filled with abundant joy and fruitful experiences! … read more
2023/06: Welcome our summer student: Sophie Polidoro!
Sophie Polidoro, who is currently an undergraduate student enrolled in Mechanical Engineering at Caltech, will join us this summer to conduct undergraduate student research about cavitation and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) experiments! Welcome, Sophie! Hope you will always find a nice place to stay cool and enjoy your summer explorations! … read more
2023/06: 2023 SEM (Society for Experimental Mechanics) Annual Conference
Dr. Jin Yang presented our recent research progress about “Temporally Adaptive Digital Image Correlation for Resolving Large Image Sequences of Non-uniform Temporal Events” at the 2023 SEM Annual Conference. Hook ’em! … read more
2023/06: Our new lab spaces are ready to use!
Our new lab spaces, CPE 1.168, 1.106 and 1.110, are now primed for occupancy! This achievement owes itself to the exceptional endeavors of the UT renovation team. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to Butch Cumminghan & Eric Erb for masterfully overseeing all the intricate renovation tasks. … read more
2023/05: Group alumnus highlight!
Our group alumnus — previous visiting undergraduate student Kaixin Zhan — accepted his Ph.D. offer from CMU Department of Mechanical Engineering. Kaixin implemented quadratic T6 and Q8 elements for our finite-element-based global DIC code package. He also helped further improve our STAQ-DIC technique. Kaixin, congratulations and best wishes for your future study!
2023/05: New Soft Matter paper alert!
Our new paper was accepted by Soft Matter: “Modeling high strain-rate microcavitation in soft materials: The role of material behavior in bubble dynamics”. A preprint link is available here. Congratulations! … read more
2023/04: Dr. Yang presented “STAQ-DIC + LIC” at the UT Biophysics Hangout event!
You can find the reference paper here: “High-Speed, Full-Field Deformation Measurements Near Inertial Microcavitation Bubbles Inside Viscoelastic Hydrogels”. … read more
2023/04: UT-Austin BME seminar
Dr. Yang presented research progress about “Laser-induced inertial cavitation in hydrogels” in the BME seminar! … read more
2023/04: [Caltech x UT-Austin] Sophie Polidoro is awarded a 2023 Caltech SURF award!
Please join me in congratulating Sophie Polidoro on being awarded 2023 Caltech SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships) award! … read more
2023/04: Dr. Yang received a VPR Special Research Grant
Dr. Yang received the 2022-2023 Special Research Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) at UT-Austin. Congratulations!
2023/03: Dr. Yang received a Faculty Travel Grant
Dr. Yang received the 2022-2023 Faculty Travel Grant from the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at UT-Austin to support his conference travel. … read more
2023/03: Our ASME 2023 IMECE conference abstract has been accepted!
Our ASME 2023 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2023) conference abstract has been accepted! See you in New Orleans this November!
2023/02: Welcome our new members: Vaidehi Joshi, Ethan Alphonso, and Inoo Jo!
We are excited to welcome our new members: Vaidehi Joshi, Ethan Alphonso, and Inoo Jo!! Hook’ em! … read more
2023/01: New Exp.Mech. paper comes out!
Our new paper was accepted: “A Speckling Technique for DIC on Ultra-Soft, Highly Hydrated Materials” has been accepted for publication in Experimental Mechanics. … read more
2022
2022/12: Our 2023 SEM Annual conference submission is accepted!
Our 2023 SEM Annual conference submission is accepted. Congratulations!
2022/11: “STAQ-DIC” is selected as a plenary keynote talk at the 2022 iDICs conference
2022-Nov: “Spatiotemporally Adaptive Quadtree Mesh (STAQ) Digital Image Correlation” (STAQ-DIC)–is selected as a plenary keynote talk at the 2022 iDICs conference. … read more
2022/10: Dr. Yang received the 2022 Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation Grant from ASME
Dr. Yang has been selected to receive the 2022 Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation Grant from the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME… read more
2022/10: Welcome our undergraduate researchers!
We are lucky to have these brilliant, self-motivated, enthusiastic undergraduate researchers join our group. Welcome, Gautam, Yehjune, Jeffrey, and Kaixin! Hook’ em! … read more
2022/09: “STAQ-DIC” selected as an Invited Talk @SES conference
Our submission (1011) “SpatioTemporally Adaptive Quadtree mesh (STAQ) Digital Image Correlation for resolving large deformations around complex geometries and discontinuities” has been scheduled as an Invited Talk (20 minutes).… read more
2022/09: Our paper “SerialTrack” is accepted by SoftwareX
We have a new paper to come out: “SerialTrack: ScalE and Rotation Invariant Augmented Lagrangian Particle Tracking”! It is accepted by SoftwareX. Congratulations to all the coauthors, and a preprint is available here. .… read more
2022/08: Dr. Jin Yang is invited to present at the 2022 ICDVC conference
Dr. Jin Yang is invited to present the research progress of “Laser-induced inertial cavitation in hydrogels: ultra-high strain-rate material characterization, dynamic instabilities, and full-field deformation measurements” at the ICDVC-2022 conference. … read more
2022/08: Dr. Jin Yang is invited to present “STAQ-DIC” in Closer Look webinar series
Dr. Jin Yang is invited to present “SpatioTemporally Adaptive Quadtree Mesh (STAQ) Digital Image Correlation for Resolving Large Deformations Around Complex Geometries and Discontinuities” at Closer Look on September 7th 11:30am – 12:30pm (ET). … read more
2022/08: Happy birthday, The Yang Mechanics Research Group @UT-Austin!
Dr. Jin Yang joined the ASE/EM department at UT-Austin. More info can be found here: https://www.ae.utexas.edu/news/texas-ase-em-welcomes-new-faculty-member-jin-yang. … read more
2022/08: Our paper “Laser-induced CAV + STAQ-DIC” is accepted by Experimental Mechanics!
Our paper “High-speed, full-field deformation measurements near inertial microcavitation bubbles inside viscoelastic hydrogels” has been accepted by Experimental Mechanics. A preprint is available here. Congratulations! … read more
2022/06: Our three abstracts are accepted by SES 2022 Annual Conference. See you at TAMU this fall!
Our three abstracts have been accepted to the SES 2022 Annual Conference at Texas A&M University! Congratulations!