Associate Professor Lihua Jin of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA has been selected to receive the 2025 Society of Engineering Science’s Huajian Gao Young Investigator Medal for “exceptionally advancing the understanding of mechanics of stimuli-responsive soft materials, soft structures and architected materials, leading to novel applications in soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and energy-absorbing materials.” The SES Huajian Gao Young Investigator Medal is awarded to a promising early-career researcher whose work has already impacted their field within the engineering sciences.