Current Members

Yingke earned his Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2020). After a two-year postdoc in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he joined Soft Material Research Laboratory as a postdoc in 2022. His current research interests include dielectric polymer nanocomposites for flexible electronics.

Roshan Plamthottam received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2018. He then joined Dr. Pei’s group later that year to pursue a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include nanomaterial processing and device development for flexible electronics.

Jiacheng joined Prof. Pei’s group in 2018 as a PhD student. He received his bachelor’s degree in Opto-Electronics information in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research concentrates on the organic/polymer light-emitting diodes and thermchromic smart windows.

Ziqing received her bachelor’s degree in Polymer Materials and Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 2019. She joined Prof. Pei’s group in 2019 as a graduate student in Materials Science and Engineering. Her current research interest is organic matrix materials for plastic scintillators on radiation detection.

Yuan Zhu got her B.S. Degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from UCLA in 2019 and now she is a third-year PhD student in the Soft Materials Research Lab. Her research focuses on developing intrinsically stretchable electroluminescent devices for displays and silver nanowires composites for electronic applications.

Yuxuan received his bachelor’s degree in Nanoengineering from UC San Diego in 2018 and master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Pennsylvania in 2020. Now he is a third year PhD student under Prof. Pei’s supervision in SMRL. His current research interests include artificial-muscle-based tactile display and wearable haptics device.

I completed my BS in Chemistry with a Specialization in Computing at UCLA, where I received the General Chemistry Instructional Laboratory Faculty Fellowship as well as the Geissman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Organic Chemistry. In 2020, the same year that I graduated college, I joined Professor Pei’s Soft Materials Research Laboratory in UCLA’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering as a PhD student, and my current research interests focus on solid polymer films for automatically modulated smart windows.

HyeonJi Hong, a PhD Student at MSE department, joined Soft Material Research Laboratory in Prof. Pei’s group in 2021 after working at LG Innotek on a project about electrophoretic switchable film. She received her Bachelor’s degree in University of Washington, and Master’s in Johns Hopkins University. Current research interest is polymer films for smart window application.

Kede received his bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from University of British Columbia and a master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania. Now he is a second-year PhD student in the Soft Materials Research Lab. His current research interests include flexible electronic devices.

Yang Luo received his bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics from Northeastern University (2019) and master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University (2022). Now he is a first-year Ph.D. student under Prof. Pei’s supervision in SMRL. His current research interests include reconfigurable surfaces and flexible haptics.

Siyu Zhang got her B.S. Degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Southeast University in 2022 and now she is a first-year MS student in the Soft Materials Research Lab. Her current research interests include electrocaloric cooling devices.

Xiangkun Wang is a currently full-time doctoral graduate student at Ocean University of China and joined Soft Material Research Laboratory in 2021 as a visiting graduate researcher (VGR) student. His current research interests include intrinsically stretchable and organic optoelectronic materials and devices.