Mayank Garg

Education

Undergraduate Institution: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi

Graduate Institution: University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC)

Biography

Mayank received his B. Tech. in Textile Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 2014, where he explored research projects in flexible electronics, polymer extrusion, and superhydrophobic surface treatments. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in summer 2020 under the supervision of Nancy Sottos and the late Scott White at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC). During his graduate journey, he coupled exothermic frontal polymerization of thermosets with endothermic degradation of embedded templates to enable rapid, energy-efficient manufacturing of microvascular structures with self-healing and self-cooling applications. Mayank received the MatSE Innovation Award, PPG-MRL Graduate Research Assistantship, and Racheff Teaching Fellowship for his research and teaching accomplishments. He remained at UIUC for a short postdoc in the Autonomous Materials Systems group to develop strategies for prolonging the service life of polymers against erosion and impact damage in low-earth orbits. Mayank joined the Hawker group as a postdoctoral scholar in late 2021 to work on light-assisted additive manufacture of dynamic materials.

Research

Mayank’s research focuses on additive manufacturing of multimaterial polymer networks with improved mechanical performance. He enjoys interdisciplinary collaborations and communicating their work to broad audiences.