The Department of Chemical Engineering is proud to announce that Professor Milad Kamkar is one of the recipients of the 2026 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineering Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME).
This award recognizes early career engineers who have made exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the manufacturing industry.
“This award is deeply meaningful to me because my research group is focussed on fabricating advanced materials via novel manufacturing techniques. Manufacturing is the area where I hope my research will make a tangible real-life impact. Receiving this recognition from the most relevant society in the field affirms we are on the right track,” says Kamkar. “I was also humbled to be nominated by both my former supervisors, Professors Orlando Rojas and Uttandaraman Sundararaj.”
Kamkar’s group has developed several novel manufacturing techniques over the last several years. His research group has created the following novel manufacturing techniques: droplet templating, chaotic direct ink writing , Janus liquids/aerogels, liquid in liquid printing, and liquid streaming. In addition, his group also develops novel functional links for 3D printing.
These advancements have opened new directions in soft matter additive manufacturing, allowing for the fabrication of aerogels with unprecedented morphologies and architectures. The culmination of this work establishes pathways to create multifunctional advanced materials which are more efficient than currently available materials.
“One could pursue molecular- and nanoscale materials design through complex chemistry; however, rather than relying solely on that approach, we achieve advanced functionalities more efficiently by developing macroscale manufacturing techniques that hybridize diverse polymers and nanomaterials,” says Kamkar, Director of the Multiscale Materials Design Lab.
For example, Kamkar’s group has developed aerogels and hydrogels that exhibit both electrical conductivity and magnetic functionality. This was achieved by hybridizing magnetic and conductive nanomaterials through chaotic direct ink writing. Conventional approaches that simply mix such materials often compromise their individual properties. In contrast, this manufacturing technique spatially organizes the nanomaterials side by side within a single structure, preserving and maximizing their intrinsic performance.
Using this technique, Kamkar was able to create a highly efficient material for electromagnetic shielding, carbon capture, oil spill remediation, and pressure sensing.
These techniques are finding their position in academia and industry, and Kamkar has secured multiple grants for his research.
Kamkar is also a member of the Additive Manufacturing of Polymers Symposium’s scientific committee for the 2026 Polymer Processing Society Conference.