Shelby Hutchens

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Education

• Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2011 (thesis advisor: Julia R. Greer)
• M.S., Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2006 (thesis advisor: Zhen-Gang Wang)
• B.S., Chemical Engineering, Oklahoma State University, 2004

Academic Positions

• Faculty Affiliate, Regenerative Biology & Tissue Engineering (RBTE) Research Theme in the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), 2023 - present
• Faculty Affiliate, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Materials Science and Engineering, 2018 - present
• Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Mechanical Science and Engineering, 2014 - 2023

Resident Instruction

• TAM 598 - Rubbery Polymer Micromechanics
• TAM 456 - Experimental Stress Analysis
• ME 200 - Thermodynamics

Research Interests

• physico-chemo-mechanics
• cutting
• fracture
• soft materials
• small scale mechanical characterization
• cellular solids
• osmosis
• active materials

Chapters in Books

• Hutchens, S. B., S. Pathak,(ed.), and B. Bhushan, “Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, Collective mechanical behavior,” Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology, (2012).

Selected Articles in Journals

• Spitzer, A. and Hutchens, S.B. "Deformation-dependent polydimethylsiloxane permeability measured using osmotic microactuators," Soft Matter, 19, 6005-6017 (2023).
• Guerena, M., Peng, J.-C., Schmid, M., Walsh, C., Zhan, S., and Hutchens, S.B. "Performing Microscope-Mounted Y-Shaped Cutting Tests," J. Vis. Exp. (191), e64546, (2023). [Guerena, Peng, Schmid, and Walsh were mentored by S.B. Hutchens in a senior design project.]
• Kataruka, A. and Hutchens, S.B. "Swelling of a non-vascular-plant-inspired soft composite," Matter, 4, 3991-4005 (2021).
• Zhang, B. and Hutchens, S.B. "On the relationship between cutting and tearing in soft elastic solids," Soft Matter, 17, 6728-6741 (2021). Invited contribution to 2021 Soft Matter Emerging Investigators. Featured in online special issue Soft Matter Most Popular 2021.
• Milner, M.P. and Hutchens, S.B. "Dynamic Fracture of Expanding Cavities in Nonlinear Soft Solids," Journal of Applied Mechanics, 88, 081008-1-8 (2021).
• Milner, M.P. and Hutchens, S.B. "Multi-crack formation in soft solids during high rate cavity expansion," Mechanics of Materials, 154, 103741 (2021). Invited contribution to special issue 'Fracture, damage and adhesion in soft materials'
• Kataruka, A. and Hutchens, S. B. “PDMS Polymerized High Internal Phase Emulsions (polyHIPEs) with Closed-cell, Aqueous-filled Microcavities," Soft Matter, 15, 9665-9675 (2019).
• Yang, S. J., Bahk, D., Kim, J., Kataruka, A., Dunn, A. C., and Hutchens, S. B. "Hydraulic Fracture Geometry in Ultrasoft Polymer Networks," International Journal of Fracture, 219, 89-99 (2019).
• Milner, M. P. and Hutchens, S. B. "A device to fracture soft solids at high speeds," Extreme Mechanics Letters, 28, 69-75 (2019).
• Zhang, B., Shiang, C.-S., Yang, S. J., and Hutchens, S. B. "Y-Shaped Cutting for the Systematic Characterization of Cutting and Tearing," Experimental Mechanics, 59(4), 517-529 (2019).
• Milner, M.P., Jin L., and S.B. Hutchens, "Creasing in evaporation-driven cavity collapse," Soft Matter, 13, 6894-6904 (2017).
• Movahed, P., W. Kreider, A. Maxwell, S. B. Hutchens, and J. Freund, "Cavitation-induced damage of soft materials by focused ultrasound bursts: a fracture-based bubble dynamics model," J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 140, 137-1386 (2016).
• Hutchens, S.B., S. Fakhouri, and A. J. Crosby, "Elastic cavitation and fracture via injection," Soft Matter, (2016) DOI: 10.1039/c5sm02055g.
• Liu, Y., Y. Chen, S. B. Hutchens, J. Lawrence, T. Emrick, and A. J. Crosby, "Directly measuring the complete stress-strain response of ultrathin polymer films," Macromolecules, 48 (18), 6534-6540 (2015).
• Fakhouri, S. M., S. B. Hutchens, A. J. Crosby, "Puncture Mechanics of Soft Solids," Soft Matter, 11, 4723-4730 (2015).
• Hutchens, S. B. and A. J. Crosby, "Soft-solid deformation at the tip of an embedded needle," Soft Matter, 100, 3670-3684 (2014).
• Needleman, A., S. B. Hutchens, N. Mohan, and J.R. Greer, "Deformation of plastically compressible hardening-softening-hardening solids," Acta Mech. Sin., 28, 1115-1124 (2012).
• Hutchens, S. B., A. Needleman, and J. R. Greer, "A microstructurally motivated description of the deformation of vertically aligned carbon nanotube structures," Appl. Phys. Lett., 100, 121910 (2012).
• Hutchens, S. B., A. Needleman, and J. R. Greer, “Analysis of uniaxial compression of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes,” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 59, 2227-2237 (2011).
• Hutchens, S. B. and Z.-G. Wang, “Metastable cluster intermediates in the nucleation of charged macromolecule solutions,” J. Chem. Phys., 127, 084912 (2007).

Teaching Honors

• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students (Spr 2020, Spr 2021, Spr 2022, Fall 2023)

Research Honors

• Soft Matter Most Popular (2021)
• Soft Matter Emerging Investigator (2021)
• NSF CAREER Award (2017)