Mechanical Engineering Professor Receives NSF CAREER Award

The National Science Foundation awarded Yiwei Han, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, with an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program grant. The award allots more than $576,000 toward Han's research into 4D printing technology and marks Han as a potential national leader and role model in his field.

Han's research is focused on additive manufacturing – the process of creating an object by building it one layer at a time. Four-dimensional printing builds on the concept of 3D printing with an additional component: the product can change after printing if given the right stimulus.

A 4D printed product is designed to change shape, properties or functionality when it is exposed to certain temperature, humidity, UV light or other triggers. The technology has potential uses in the medical field, aerospace and automotive engineering and in construction and architecture, among other applications, Han said.

"With original 3D printing, what you print will stay the same forever," he said. "With 4D printing, if you give it heat or light or something else, it can change."

Though the technology is still emerging, the 2022 value of the 4D printing market was more than $137 million, with a projected value of more than $2 billion by 2030.

Many forms of 4D printing are costly and difficult to create, but Han hopes to develop a hybrid 4D printing process that more efficiently creates flexible structures with the ability to change shape.

"That can be used for wearable devices," he said. "Let's say for a band, right now we have to make bands in all different sizes to fit different people. But with this technology, we can create a band that changes to fit you."

The CAREER grant will support Han's work for five years and includes an education component in which he and his graduate students will provide hands-on research and demonstration opportunities to K-12 students.

"If I can bring this to high school, middle school students and even undergraduates, we can get more interest in this area, in additive manufacturing," he said.

"The government has said it needs people in this area, in manufacturing, and the more students who become interested in this work, the more, perhaps, pursue a degree. That's how we get more developed and get new ideas."

The NSF CAREER award is one of the most prestigious awards that early career researchers can receive, said Viola L. Acoff, dean of the Ole Miss School of Engineering.

"Dr. Han's award increases the visibility of his research, the School of Engineering and the university," she said.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2340414, and by the Advanced Manufacturing program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.