Congratulations to our alumnus, Fernando Soto, who was named one of 22 early-career interdisciplinary Fellows. Fernando graduated with a Ph.D. in NanoEngineering in 2019.
Fernando is a nanoengineer who has developed microengines the size of a human cell. His research includes designing, building, and powering these tiny engines. Fernando wants to pivot his research to the development of programmable materials to create autonomous biorobots. By integrating responsive synthetic materials into biologically inspired structures that could operate across scales he aims to design robots where responsive materials generate movement or action. These robots could perform tasks too difficult, dangerous, or inaccessible for humans.