Welcome!

SHAN Research Group (SRG) at Syracuse University (SU) are a team of mechanicians, materials engineers and roboticists who are interested in interdisciplinary research in Smart, Hybrid, Active and Nature-inspired Materials, Mechanics, and Machines (SHAN 3M). An expert in these areas, Principal Investigator Dr. Wanliang Shan spearheads SRG’s multifaceted synergistic research efforts. We are currently located at Link Hall on the beautiful serene main campus of Syracuse University, which sits in the southern part of Syracuse, NY. Group activities and research updates can be found on Page News.

Syracuse University Campus

Our research, innovation and educational efforts have been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Syracuse University (SU), and University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Multiple projects have been funded through different NSF initiatives and programs including National Robotics Initiative (NRI), Partnership for Innovation (PFI), Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), the Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) program, and in particular, NSF Career Award (2023) from the Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MoMS) program.

Our work has been published with high impact journals including Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Materials Interfaces, Advanced Intelligent Systems, Soft Matter, Extreme Mechanics Letters, and International Journal of Solids and Structures. Five patents have been issued or filed based on our research outcome. Our group members have moved on to professional careers in academia, national labs, startups, and big corporations.

Currently Dr. Shan teaches ECS222 Dynamics, MAE525 Soft Robotics, and MAE 625 Fracture Mechanics (biannually) at SU. He also actively engages in entrepreneurship activities with undergraduate and graduate students at SU. In his spare time, Dr. Shan enjoys playing basketball regularly with students, staff, and professors at SU, and family and local friends in Syracuse. In winter and spring, Dr. Shan also enjoys skiing trips with family and friends in the US and Canada.