About

Jochen Mueller is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His research combines additive manufacturing, functional materials, and computational design to create programmable matter. Mueller’s work is situated at the intersection of science, application, and design, focusing on architected, programmable, and smart materials, as well as computational design. His Laboratory for Digital Fabrication and Programmable Materials integrates fabrication processes with computational tools to manipulate existing materials and structures, aiming to alter their properties and enhance performance. Mueller’s background includes hands-on experience in the aerospace and automotive industries, enabling him to pursue research projects with real-world applications such as improving materials used in prosthetic devices and lightweight structures. He is involved with several research institutes at Johns Hopkins, including the Institute for NanoBioTechnology, the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, and the Center for Additive Manufacturing and Architected Materials. His notable contributions include developing processes for controlling fiber alignment in composite materials, fabricating lightweight structures that balance strength and toughness, designing smart textiles that adapt to environmental changes, building active lattices capable of switching from hard to soft states, and manufacturing soft, fast-moving robots. Mueller holds a doctorate from ETH Zurich, a master’s degree from Imperial College London, and a bachelor’s degree from Albstadt‐Sigmaringen University. He recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute. His research has been featured in prominent publications such as Advanced Materials, PNAS, and Nature, and he holds eight patents. Mueller has received the ETH Medal for his doctoral dissertation and was awarded the Lopez-Loreta Prize for research on prosthetic materials. He is a member of several professional societies, including ASME, VDI, and MRS, and reviews papers for leading journals.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Physics
• Computer Science
• Nanotechnology
• Optoelectronics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Mechanical engineering
• Engineering
• Control engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Composite material
• Chemistry
• Optics

Selected publications

• The Resolution–Throughput Conflict In Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

  Advanced Materials · 2026-04-23

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Material extrusion additive manufacturing enables a wide range of technologies, from microscale functional devices to meter-scale structural components, yet its broader adoption as a manufacturing platform and, increasingly, as a materials discovery tool remains constrained by a persistent coupling between resolution and throughput. Across materials, architectures, and length scales, improvements in geometric resolution are systematically accompanied by disproportionate reductions in deposition rate and printable volume. Consequently, progress has largely relied on optimizing isolated subsystems, yielding only incremental improvements or introducing constraints elsewhere in the system. This perspective argues that overcoming the resolution-throughput tradeoff requires a unified, system-level approach that explicitly accounts for the coupled interactions among materials physics, flow dynamics, and machine architecture. Strategies are organized into three mechanistic domains according to how they intervene in deposition: software and control, deposition hardware and architecture, and hybrid processes. Examined within this structure, existing and emerging approaches reveal shared limitations, unrealized complementarities, and fundamental incompatibilities. Together, these insights outline pathways toward material extrusion systems in which resolution and throughput can be adjusted with greater independence, enabling reliable manufacturing across diverse materials, scales, and application domains.

  PublisherDOI

• Residual‐Stress Programming Enables Reciprocal Multistability in 3D‐Printed Architected Materials

  Advanced Functional Materials · 2026-03-22

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Multistability offers a powerful means to embed adaptability, energy management, and mechanical memory in architected materials. Achieving symmetric and reversible bistability, however, requires precise control of internal stress fields—a capability that remains inaccessible to current additive manufacturing approaches. Here, we introduce a residual‐stress programming strategy based on controlled thermal cycling that exploits transient viscoelastic relaxation to deterministically stabilize reciprocal energy landscapes in 3D‐printed architected solids. The approach enables geometry‐preserving, symmetric bistability in monolithic printed structures, independent of hinges, multimaterial interfaces, or manual assembly, which are typically required to realize multistable architectures. Finite element simulations and reduced‐order models capture the coupling between differential cooling dynamics and elastic buckling onset, linking stress evolution to bistable equilibria. We demonstrate this principle in both lattice‐ and shell‐based metamaterials that exhibit sequential, layer‐by‐layer energy dissipation under impact loading. Together, these results establish a general framework for programming robust multistability into architected materials, enabling new opportunities in energy management, mechanical computing, metamaterials, and soft robotics.

  PublisherDOI

• Ultrawide Property Range Thiol‐Ene Photopolymers for 3D Printing

  Advanced Materials Technologies · 2025-05-29 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Multimaterial 3D printing enables the integration of materials with vastly different mechanical properties. Yet, in practice, existing multimaterial 3D printing methods are often constrained in the range of achievable properties within a single print, necessitating continued reliance on manual assembly for several applications such as soft robotics. Various material systems are developed to address this limitation by incorporating novel chemistries and/or modifying process parameters. Complementing these advancements, a thiol‐ene‐based photopolymer resin is introduced for multimaterial 3D printing that broadens the achievable range of elastic modulus and hardness, spanning five orders of magnitude and two full Shore hardness scales, respectively. It is defined by two extreme materials with disparate cross‐linking densities, but compatible photopolymerization mechanisms, providing access to intermediate properties upon blending. Moreover, continuous gradients are demonstrated through in situ material mixing and controlled diffusion, even at sub‐filament scales. The versatile resin is compatible with direct ink writing, vat photopolymerization, and potentially other processes like material jetting, opening opportunities in soft electronics, personal protective equipment, and biomedical implants.

  PublisherDOI

• The sound of party competition: how applause reflects unity, disagreement, and the electoral cycle in parliaments

  West European Politics · 2025-09-11 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• A Systematic Approach for Converting CAD Models to Voxel Representations for Efficient Topology Optimization

  2025-01-03

  article

  Topology optimization is a design tool that is garnering significant attention in industry. This implementation paper seeks to inform the practicing engineering community on how topology optimization can be integrated in real-world design development processes. Specifically, we present a systematic computational geometry method, based on Boolean operations on convex solids, for converting arbitrary CAD solids and traction boundary conditions to structured and regular finite element meshes and load vectors. This enables us to use efficient geometrical multi-grid solvers and leads to memory and CPU-time savings. A collaborative workflow is presented where topology optimization is used to design the support structure within the skin of a UAV, adopting a topology optimization formulation of mass minimization with a compliance constraint. The methods in this paper are particularly useful in cases where some parts of the design domain are defined and precluded from changing, such as the skin geometry in the case of wing or turbine blade structural design.

  PublisherDOI

• Liquid Metal Core–Shell 3D Printing

  Advanced Engineering Materials · 2025-03-17 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Alloys such as eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) remain liquid at room temperature, enabling extensive, repeated deformations without structural damage, making them ideal electrical conductors for soft robotics and wearable devices. However, their liquid nature presents significant fabrication challenges, often mitigated by encasing them in flexible rubber sheaths. Extrusion‐based 3D printing offers a rapid and integrated fabrication method, but significant rheological differences between the liquid metal (LM) core and rubber shell often lead to nonuniform shells and constrained core‐to‐shell ratios, which are crucial in optimizing functional properties like electrical and thermal conductivity. This study systematically investigates printhead design and process parameters to establish a generalizable framework for LM core–shell 3D printing. Key parameters, including nozzle core and shell diameters, flow rates, and shell material viscosity, are modulated to achieve uniform structures. Precise control of these process parameters enables core‐to‐total area ratios of up to 0.37, a nearly 50% increase over the current state of the art and comparable to commercial power and communication cables. The successfully printed core–shell features include overhangs, turns, and layers, demonstrating structural complexity akin to conventional material extrusion while maintaining high electrical conductivity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Modeling of Bistable Leading Edge Slats and Trailing Edge Flaps

  2025-01-03 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  The use of adaptive structures is key to the field of aerospace engineering. Indeed control of aerial vehicles relies heavily on such structures. However most existing adaptive structures rely on a continuous power supply even when only holding a set position which presents complications in situations with limited power sources such as exists in small uncrewed aerial systems. In contrast, bistable systems only require power when transitioning states, instead relying on elasticity of the system to hold either stable state. The work herein presents a rotary bistable mechanism which could be used to hold leading edge slats and/or trailing edge flaps in either a stowed or deployed condition. Results indicate that the torque required to actuate the rotary bistable mechanism is sufficiently high to prevent self-actuation for a range of velocities and angles of attack.

  PublisherDOI

• 3D-printable oil-in-liquid metal foam emulsion

  Matter · 2025-09-17 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Adaptive core-shell 3D printing of hollow fiber actuators

  Device · 2025-05-19 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Rotational bistable mechanisms for morphing wings and beyond

  Communications Engineering · 2025-09-24 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Low-energy-use morphing structures can greatly impact various engineering disciplines. In aeronautics, aircraft wings must adapt to diverse flight conditions to ensure optimally shaped wings for enhanced performance, maneuverability, and efficiency. Shape morphing enables aircraft to maximize aerodynamic performance but often requires complex system designs with heavy components, leading to continuous energy consumption and reduced payload capacity. To address these challenges, we introduce a new class of additively manufactured, bistable rotating elements designed for aircraft wing structures. Leveraging geometric nonlinearity, our proposed design creates bistable geometries that enable substantial and reversible alterations in the wing's chordwise geometry. This eliminates the need for continuous energy use during various maneuvers, thus conserving fuel or battery usage and contributing to weight reduction, particularly in Uncrewed Air Vehicles (UAVs). The proposed multistable morphing wing offers mechanical and geometric tunability, allowing for precise adjustments in stiffness and degrees of rotation. Experimental validation, including wind tunnel tests, and Finite Element Analysis confirm the mechanical reliability of the multistable rotational morphing wing. Demonstrating its ability to maintain the morphed shape across various flight conditions, this concept shows promise for enhancing UAV performance in real-world applications and extending its potential to fields beyond aerospace engineering.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Pauline A. Miller

  Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition

  26 shared

• Kristina Shea

  22 shared

• Jennifer A. Lewis

  12 shared

• Jordan R. Raney

  University of Pennsylvania

  7 shared

• Chiara Daraio

  Meta (United States)

  6 shared

• Dennis M. Kochmann

  6 shared

• Sidney Cohen

  5 shared

• A. M. Pappenheimer

  5 shared

Awards & honors

• Lopez-Loreta Prize (2020)
• ETH Medal (2018)
• Catalyst Award for Sustainability in Metal Additive Manufact…