Jun Chen (Ph.D. MSE 16) was recently awarded the Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award by the Materials Research Society. This prestigious award comes with a $5,000 cash prize, a certificate, a trophy, and the opportunity to present the awarded research at the Materials Research Society’s meeting.  

Currently an associate professor with tenure and Hellman Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Chen’s research group at UCLA is pioneering a research effort to discover the giant magnetoelastic effect in soft systems for personalized healthcare and sustainable energy. 
This award was given to Chen for the discovery of the giant magnetoelastic effect in soft materials systems, which enables a fundamentally new approach to the development of bioelectric divides for healthcare that are both biocompatible and intrinsically waterproof. This research notably has impacts on sustainable energy applications as well. 

Chen began this research with a goal of shifting the current healthcare system from reactive to something more personalized and proactive. Currently, both wearable and implanted medical bioelectric devices rely on encapsulation layers in order to waterproof against the sweat, humidity, and moist environment of the human body. These layers, though, can compromise performance.
Building off \ the magnetoelastic effect, also known as the Villari effect, discovered in 1865 by Italian physicist Emilio Villari in some rigid metals and metal alloys, Chen’s group has extended the observation of the magnetoelastic effect into a soft polymer system. This represents what Chen calls “a fundamentally new platform technology for building up human-body-powered soft bioelectronics.” Without any encapsulation, these new devices will be intrinsically waterproof.  

Chen’s dissertation, Triboelectric Nanogenerators, served as an inspiration for his current research. He has now built upon that foundation, and his research group is at the forefront, pioneering harnessing of the giant magnetoelastic effect in soft systems. “Our initial focus is to develop a theoretical understanding of magnetoelasticity in these soft material systems, followed by experimental efforts to extend this platform technology across a wide range of application scenarios,” Chen said.  

 

This early in his career, Chen’s work is already not only impressive but impactful. He was on the 2023 list of Georgia Tech Alumni  40 under 40. Even with the strides he has made on his own, Chen’s time at Tech remains important to him. “I am deeply grateful for the exceptional education and research training I received from the Georgia Tech MSE Department,” Chen said. MSE is proud to see the accomplishments of our alumni, Jun Chen, and we look forward to where this research will take him.