Today was yet another asynchronous work day. The work that Dr. Zhu and his graduate students do in the lab is complicated, so when we do go to the lab, we often spend a bit of time researching metamaterials on our own with the graduate students there to help us with any questions we have. (This means we can do the same research from home almost just as well, and it’s a lot more convenient.) Anyway, we’ve been reviewing the academic paper that Dr. Zhu sent us and also looking at outside resources to figure out what metamaterial design we want to print. One option is the “bowtie” design which is like a hollow rectangular prism that buckles down so that it’s flat. However, the design that most interests me is this one design that is really hard (and slightly annoying) to fold correctly but turns out really cool: it starts as a zig-zag mess of folded paper and expands in not one but two directions into a jagged sheet of paper. I made an origami model of this design (see below for pictures). The next step (or at least an upcoming one) is rather exciting: we get to work with the graduate students to print the design that we end up choosing!
hi guys! I wish you were not asyncronous. How has the experience been so far? I always like being in person myself. Let me know! Thanks for the posts!
I also sort of wish we were not asynchronous, but I think this is just how it best works out for our host and his students. I’ve enjoyed exploring the “typical” lab setting and learning about a topic that feels fairly niche. I also like working with the paper models that the grad students give us. To be fair, it is also nice to not have to always go in early to the lab – it’s a bit more of a relaxed schedule.