IDEAS² Center expanded its research visibility through several publications and conference engagements by faculty and students.
The paper A Multi-level Mechanical Modeling and Computational Design Framework for Weft Knitted Fabrics was published in Extreme Mechanics Letters, highlighting new approaches for modeling and computationally designing knitted material structures.
The research project Mechanics of Highly Entangled Matter Through Knitting was presented at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) in Memphis, Tennessee. At the same conference, Dr. Tim Chen organized a mini-symposium on the Mechanics of Architected Materials, bringing together researchers working on advanced material systems.
Additional research developments included the submission of Design and Integration of Inflatable Pressurized and Unpressurized Structures for Lunar Habitation to the 2026 International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) in the Space Architecture track. The study Segmented Ionic Polymer Metal Composite for Dust Wiper Applications was accepted for the 2026 SPIE Conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuator Devices.
Another project, Stiffness and Stability of Spiral Wrapped Doubly Curved Shells, was accepted for presentation at the AIAA SciTech 2026 Forum in Orlando, Florida.
These publications and conference activities highlight the IDEAS² Center’s continued contributions to advanced materials, structural mechanics, and space architecture research, while strengthening the Center’s engagement with the international engineering and aerospace research community.