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  • Oct
    6

    SPREE Seminar: Qiming Wang

    McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering

    11:00 AM A236, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    Improving Engineering Resilience via Bioinspired Living Material

    The US infrastructure is continuously aging and failing during service or under unpredictable hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks. One of the NAE grand engineering challenges in the 21st century is to restore and improve urban infrastructure (www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges/infrastructure.aspx). Living organisms typically exhibit extraordinary resilience to hazards, thus becoming continuous sources of inspiration for designing engineering materials and structures. Living organisms are typically different from engineering materials in two aspects: First, living organisms typically feature sophisticated microstructures and architectures that are challenging to reproduce in traditional engineering practice. Second, living organisms consist of living cells to support their metabolisms, such as growth, regeneration, and remodeling, which are typically impossible in traditional engineering materials. In this talk, we present the design of bioinspired living materials by integrating living components (e.g., living chemistry, microorganisms, and plants) into engineering materials using modern manufacturing technologies. The vision is that these bioinspired living structures can imitate both architectures and metabolisms of living organisms to enable self-growing, self-remodeling, self-strengthening, and self-healing in resistance to aging, fatigue, and natural hazards. For example, assisted by living chemistry, 3D-printed structures can self-heal large-scale impact damages and fractures. Assisted by living microorganisms, 3D-printed polymers can self-grow into structural composites with pre-designed delicate microstructures. Assisted by living chloroplasts, 3D-printed artificial trees can harness photosynthesis to self-remodel into multifunctional materials.

    Qiming Wang is an Assistant Professor and endowed Stephen Schrank Early Career Chair at Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Southern California (USC). Before joining USC, he was a postdoctoral associate in Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014-2015) and earned his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University in 2014. He received ONR Young Investigator Award (2021), NSF Faculty Early Career Award (2020), AFOSR Young Investigator Award (2018), SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award (2020), Orange County Engineering Council Outstanding Young Engineer Award (2020), MRS Graduate Student Award (2014), ACS Arthur K. Doolittle Award (2014), Duke Kewaunee Student Achievement Award (2013), Duke Lew Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (2012), and ASME Best Paper Award (2011). His research interest is centered around manufacturing and mechanics of unprecedented materials and structures that can potentially address grand engineering challenges, including infrastructure, water, environment, energy, robotics, and healthcare. His recent research is to design and understand bioinspired living materials by integrating living components (e.g., living chemistry, microorganisms, and plants) into engineering materials using modern manufacturing technologies. His research has been widely reported by more than 200 news articles in popular media, such as Science highlights, Nature highlights, Discovery, Washington Post, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Physics Today, Materials Today, and NASA Tech Briefs.

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    TIME Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    LOCATION A236, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Alison Rodriguez    alison.rodriguez@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Sep
    8

    Welcome & Breakfast for New McCormick PhD Students

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    9:00 AM LR2 & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 8, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

    LOCATION LR2 & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    12

    New Undergraduate Fall 2025 Registration

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Friday, September 12, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Sep
    15

    Welcome & Luncheon for New Full-time Graduate Students

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    11:00 AM Ryan Auditorium & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

    LOCATION Ryan Auditorium & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    16

    Fall Classes Begin. Change of Registration (Drop/Add) Late registration for returning students begins

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Tuesday, September 16, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Sep
    24

    SPREE Seminar

    McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

    11:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andrew Liguori    andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  • Sep
    26

    EES Seminar

    McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

    2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Friday, September 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

    LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andrew Liguori    andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  • Sep
    29

    AED-MPM Seminar

    McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

    11:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andrew Liguori    andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  • Oct
    1

    SPREE Seminar

    McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

    11:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

    ADD TO CALENDAR

    CONTACT Andrew Liguori    andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)