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Welcome to the home page of the Complex Materials Group. We are interested in employing the powerful analytical and computational techniques devised in heterogeneous materials theory, statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics and discrete geometry to deepen our fundamental understanding of complex material systems with a wide range of engineering applications. Our expertise in large-scale optimization enables us to explore novel materials with desirable microstructure and properties via inverse design approaches.
With this perspective we actively study problems involving heterogeneous materials microstructure characterization and effective property modeling, multi-functional composite design, self-assembly of colloidal particles, modeling and design of granular materials, physics of living cells and tissues, growth and invasion of malignant tumors, to name just a few. Our current projects include theory of hyperuniformity, statistical field theory, statistical geometry, and AI for 4D Materials. We use theoretical analyses, computer simulations and modeling to quantitatively characterize problems and to explore new research directions. Whenever possible, we actively collaborate with industry partners and scientists and engineers from many disciplines. For example, some of our research has been motivated by applications in oil industry, high combustion-efficiency propellant manufacturing, and medical/clinical applications.
We are open to new ideas, excited about new challenges and enjoy collaborations. Feel free to contact us if you find what we are doing is of interest to you.
Please also check out our YouTube channel for short videos on basic materials and physics concepts, recorded lecture and seminars.
A tessellation inspired by the concept of a hyperuniform atomic structure. Hyperuniformity is a state of condensed matter that appears disorderly, but exhibits hidden order and symmetry on larger scales. A better understanding of the not-quite-uniform nature of hyperuniformity could lead to innovation in advanced matters, communications, and transportation. See a story on a recent MURI grant on this study.
Recent Group News
Feb 2025: Our work on hyperuniformity of classical and quantum spin liquids is published in PNAS! See the News article on this work.
Oct 2024: Our work on a novel RoboMatter system via building block design for reconfigurable smart multifunctional materials is published in Nat. Comm! This work is selected as Editor's Highlights!
July 2024: Our discovery of universal hyperuniform hidden order in looped leaf vein networks is published in Phys. Rev. Lett., and highlighted on the cover!
Jun 2024: Dr. Jiao receives Fulton Top 5% Faculty Award!
Jun 2024: Our collaborative work on spheroid packing models for supramolecules is publsihed in Phys. Rev. E!
May 2024: Ayush joined the group as a PhD student, who will be jointly supervised with Prof. Iquebal.
May 2024: Dr. Jiao was promoted to Full Professor!
Apr 2024: Congratulations to Alex Plantz for successfully completing his defense and for his new position at Boeing!
Jan 2024: Our project on Accelerating Materials Design and Process Optimization through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, with University of Missouri and Brewer Science, receives funding from Army ERDC.
Jan 2024: Congratulations to Ethan for wining the FURI award!
July 2023: Our collaborative papers on computational design of hyperuniform materials and hyperuniform packings in higher dimensions are published in Phys. Rev. E!
July 2023: Dr. Jiao receives Fulton Top 5% Faculty Award!
July 2023: David Keeney joined the group as a PhD student! Welcome David!
Jun 2023: Our collaborative paper on mechanically engineering 3D collective cell behaviors is published in Advanced Functional Materials!
May 2023: Our invited review article on disordered solid state materials is published in Applied Physics Reviews!
Mar 2023: Our invited News & Views on evolving wave networks for materials design is published in Nature Computational Science!
Feb 2023: We reported our discovery that atoms in certain medium/high entropy alloys are spatially distributed in a multi-hyperuniform manner in Acta Mater.
Jan 2023: Our collaborative work on tumor cell micromechanics with Prof. Bo Sun at OSU is highlighted on the cover of Soft Matter!
Oct 2022: Dr. Yuanchao Hu joined the group as a Senior Research Scientist! Welcome, Dr. Hu!
Aug 2022: Wenlong Shi joined the group as a PhD student! Welcome Wenlong!
Jun 2022: Congratulations to Mohamed for successfully completing his M.S. thesis defense!
Apr 2022: Dr. Jiao receives Fulton Top 5% Teaching Award!
Apr 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Yu Zheng for successfully completing her Ph.D. dissertation defense!
Mar 2022: We receive a five-year MURI Award together with Princeton and Penn State on studying disordered hyperuniform materials and networks. A story highlighting the award can be found here.
Mar 2022: Our work on data-driven learning of sensitive higher-order correlation functions as material representations is published in Acta Mater.
Mar 2022: Our work on correlation-function-based design of smart composites for soft robotics is published in J. Appl. Phys.
Jan 2022: Congratulations to David and Justine for wining their FURI awards!
Jan 2022: Our work on theory of uniformity in driven Brownian systems is published in Physica A.
Sep 2021: We receive a NSF award to improve HPC facilities at ASU.
Jun 2021: Our two papers on hyperuniformity of defected 2D transition metal dichalcogenides and topological transformation in 2D pentagon materials are both published in Physical Review B.
May 2021: Our work using Shannon entropy for quantifying cell migration dynamics is published in Biophysical Journal.
Apr 2021: Congratulations to Alexander for successfully completing his Applied Project presentation and defense!
Apr 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Pei-En Chen for successfully completing his Ph.D. dissertation defense!
Apr 2021: Our collaborative work with Prof. Xiaopeng Li on assembly of supermolecular Archimedean polyhedra is published in Journal of American Chemical Society.
Feb 2021: Our work on mechanically regulated collective cell migration is published in Angewandte Chemie. This work is highlighted as the Frontispiece of the journal.
Jan 2021: Our collaborative work with Prof. Xiaopeng Li on assembly of supermolecular pentagonal prims is published in Angewandte Chemie.
Jan 2021: Our work on effective medium theory of crack material is published in Int. J. Eng. Sci.
Jan 2021: Our work on hyperuniform amorphous 2D network materials is published in PNAS.
Jan 2021: Our work on reconstructing complex 3D materials is published in Acta Materialia.
Dec 2020: Our contribution to improvement of physical modeling capability of MFIX (particle polydispersity) is released (V20.3) and highlighted on NETL website. Congratulations to Dr. Aytekin Gel and Dr. Shaohua Chen!
Nov 2020: Our work on modeling multi-cellular dynamics regulated via ECM mediated dynamic force network is published in Phys. Rev. E. Check out our web-based interactive app for simulating the cell-ECM system based on the model.
Aug 2020: Dr. Iavn Gudoshnikov joined our group as postdoc research associate.
Aug 2020: We receive NSF award on developing novel neural architecture for 4D materials science. See the News on ASU Full Circle.
July 2020: Our work on statistical polytope functions for quantifying and modeling disordered system is published in Phys. Rev. E.
Apr 2020: Our work on hyperuniform 2D amorphous silica is published in Science Advances.
Mar 2020: We receive sub-award from NSF through Texas Tech University (Dr. Wei Li) for understanding and optimizing hyperuniform laminar flow field arising in microchips for identification and classification of circulating tumor cells in blood.
Aug 2019: We receive a collaborative NSF award on sweeping theory of elastoplastic networks with Dr. Oleg Makarenkov (UT Dallas).
Please send comments or questions about this site to Dr. Yang Jiao
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