Faculty Spotlight: Lucia Stein-Montalvo
Lucia Stein-Montalvo was inspired to explore new subjects and become a lifelong learner after watching her grandmother, Jane, pursue an education in mathematics and operations research at a time when women were the minority in these fields. Lucia's curiosity and love of community led her to teach, and she's excited to further her kirigami design research at Northwestern.
Q1, Where were you born and where did you study (undergrad, grad, post-doc)
I was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. For my undergraduate studies, I went to Davidson College, initially on a soccer scholarship. I tore my ACL 20 minutes into my first game of freshman year, which set off an injury-plagued career that I eventually cut short. It was heartbreaking, honestly, but in my post-soccer college life, I was able to develop other passions: I dove into my math major and Hispanic studies minor (studying abroad in Argentina was a highlight), and other courses in, for example, drawing and creative writing. My liberal arts education shaped my approach to research and learning in general – I deeply value drawing connections between seemingly disparate fields.
My graduate degrees are from Boston University in Mechanical Engineering, where I studied the nonlinear deformations and instabilities (i.e. “shape-shifting”) of slender structures like plates and shells. The transition from pure math to engineering was challenging at first, but I had a terrific Ph.D. advisor and learned a ton during my years in Boston. I also got to spend 6 months as a visiting researcher at the Université Grenoble Alpes—a wonderful experience that expanded my perspective on academic research (and reaffirmed my love for the Alps.)
I then got the Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from Princeton University and went there for my postdoc. By this time, I knew I wanted to apply what I knew about the mechanics of shape-shifting to applications in the built environment, so I joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. I was immersed in an excellent research environment and community there and was able to expand my research breadth quite a bit.
Q2, How long have you been at NU & briefly describe your research program?
I started at NU in January of 2025, and it’s been great so far. The goal of my research program is to understand and apply the mechanics of shape-shifting (i.e., causing structures to change shape on demand or in response to a stimulus) for designs that can make our built environment more self-regulating or “life-like”, and thus more resilient to the effects of climate change. My work is experimentally-driven, and informed by simulations and mathematical modeling.
Q3, What courses do you teach?
I’ll start teaching in 2026. I very much look forward to interacting with more of Northwestern’s impressive students through teaching!
Q4, Did you always know you would become a professor? What attracted you to an academic career?
I did not – honestly, I vacillated often over the years about my future career path. Ultimately, the further along I got, the more ideas I had that I was excited to work on, and academia offered the environment to do that. I find mentorship and teaching very rewarding, and I’m particularly motivated by the opportunity to reach students who might not initially see themselves in engineering. Curiosity and community are two of the main things that keep me in academia.
Q5, What is the most challenging part of your job?
The art of balancing the many different responsibilities that come with being a professor (research, teaching, mentoring, managing funding, etc.) At the same time, I think this is part of what makes this job so engaging and exciting.
Q6, What do you consider your most significant research finding or accomplishment thus far?
One contribution I’m proud of is still ongoing. We have demonstrated that retrofitting structures inspired by kirigami (“cut paper”) can be used to tailor air flow and shade simultaneously and adaptively. First, we used experiments and simulations to study the interaction between kirigami and wind at the centimeter scale, uncovering geometry-based (and thus generalizable) design guidelines. Now, we’re preparing to exhibit a meter-scale, kinetic kirigami pavilion at the European Cultural Centre’s biennial architecture exhibition, Time Space Existence, showcasing the potential of kirigami for adaptive architecture designs.
This work is meaningful to me because (1) we’ve been able to bridge fundamental knowledge about the mechanics of shape-shifting structures with the need for architectural scale solutions, and (2) we are communicating this work through both peer-reviewed journal publications and public outreach. I am excited to continue to grow my research program in these directions!
Q7, Is there someone or something that has inspired you?
I’m inspired by so many people and things! But one person that comes to mind is my maternal grandmother, Jane. She went to more universities than she’d probably like me to share before graduating with a B.A. in mathematics in 1970, then an M.S. in Operations research in 1974. She was certainly a minority in these fields as a woman. She then worked in computer programming and math instruction before moving to health services research and deciding to pursue a Ph.D. in public health. After working in that field, she ended up starting and running a language school in Chapel Hill, NC, for about 17 years before “retiring” at 78 (in quotes because my grandparents continue to volunteer in local politics and social justice enough to count for a job). I really admire my grandmother’s endless curiosity and her bravery to dive into new fields throughout life. I plan to be a lifelong learner, too.
Q8, What do you do for fun when you are not working?
I mostly fill my free time with sports and friends, ideally both at once and outdoors. I love hiking, rock climbing, trail running, and yoga. I’m super excited to spend as much time as possible at Lake Michigan when it warms up, including playing beach games that I’ll be overly competitive about. I also enjoy reading novels and practicing languages. I have various artistic hobbies like sewing and drawing, but I must admit that I tend to cycle through them---I’ll get really into a craft for a while, then move on to the next.
Q9, How do you explain what you do and why it is important to someone who isn’t a scientist or engineer?
More and more people are moving to cities, and at the same time, we’re feeling the effects of climate change: rising temperatures (which hit cities even harder), extreme weather, and so on. Our built environment is not well-equipped to handle these challenges. One main reason is that architecture is largely static, and most of our buildings can’t self-regulate---this means we rely heavily on interventions for things like cooling and heating. These resources are expensive and unsustainable at best and inaccessible to large portions of the world’s population at worst.
In response to these challenges, I work on developing new and retrofit-friendly designs that can make the built environment more self-regulating so that structures will be able to flexibly regulate things like airflow, temperature, light, and other factors. I base these designs on “shape-shifting” structures that can morph on demand or in response to stimuli from the environment.
Q10, What is one thing that has impressed you about living in Chicago?
People are friendly! It reminds me of the South in that way. There’s a sense of warmth and community, even in such a big city. Also, to state the obvious… I am in awe of the lake.