You are invited to attend the IEEE Young Professionals Engagement Series (YES), organized by the IEEE Sensors Council YP Committee.
Talk Title: Bioinspired Design for Next-Generation Composites
Abstract: Plants are sessile organisms lacking physical motion and neurological control. Hence a stronger correlation between their structure and mechanical demands is anticipated. Specifically, the thick-walled water conductive xylem lacks the living parenchyma. However, it addresses varying functional needs from efficient thermal and fluid conduction to structural support through rapid structural and compositional modifications independent of the biological process of cell division. The above formed the primary hypothesis for a new research direction of my lab on plant biomechanics where we investigated microstructural and composition changes in plant stem during rapid growth using a combination of material characterization techniques. In this talk, I will provide some outcomes of Plant Biomechanics research and discuss its implications in the design of next-generation composites. I will also give an overview of my lab's key research directions, including discussing bioinspired design for 2D Materials like MXenes of relevance for sensor design.