Jordan Raney

Jordan R. Raney is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, a position he has held since joining the faculty in 2016. He also serves as Graduate Group Chair for the department. Raney earned B.S. degrees in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Minnesota in 2005, an M.S. in Materials Science from the California Institute of Technology in 2010, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Caltech in 2012. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. His affiliations include the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory and the Penn Laboratory for Research in Structural Materials (LRSM).

In the Architected Materials Laboratory, Raney's research centers on experimental mechanics and additive manufacturing techniques to create novel composites and material architectures, encompassing hierarchical, heterogeneous, fibrous, and soft systems. His work is organized into three primary thrusts: geometric control of nonlinear behavior, such as wave propagation and fracture resistance in metamaterials; development of 3D-printable composites and responsive materials, including fiber-reinforced inks and stimuli-responsive elastomers; and mechanical logic and autonomous materials that integrate sensing, decision-making, and actuation without electronics. Notable publications include 'Design of non-deterministic architected structures via bio-inspired distributed agents' in Science Advances (2025), 'Modular stimuli-responsive valves for pneumatic soft robots' in Advanced Intelligent Systems (2025), 'Rotational 3D printing of damage-tolerant composites with programmable mechanics' in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018), and 'Bifurcation-based embodied logic and autonomous actuation' in Nature Communications (2019). Raney has received the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2020 for developing materials with distributed intelligence in kirigami-inspired architectures, the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award in 2019, and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He has presented seminars at institutions including Johns Hopkins University and Drexel University.

Professional Email: raney@seas.upenn.edu