Ben completed his PhD Thesis on Discrete Mechanical Metamaterials in August 2020.

There, he developed, prototyped, tested, and implemented several novel research concepts, including a low-cost, highly tailorable mechanical metamaterial system based on discrete assembly, multiple mobile robotic platforms for assembly, inspection, and repair of these structures, and application-specific systems for transportation and aerospace in collaboration with industry partners including Toyota, Airbus, and Nike.

He has published in several journals on these topics and holds multiple patents on the core technologies.

Originally from Southern California, Ben’s exposure to design, engineering, and fabrication in his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley led to a position at Lundberg Design, a design/build architecture firm in San Francisco. Having honed metal and wood fabrication skills, he then moved to Los Angeles to pursue large scale digital fabrication as a project manager with Ball Nogues Studio. Following this, he worked as a structural engineer at NOUS engineering, before entering a Master’s of Science program in Civil Engineering at MIT. There, he was awarded a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship NSTRF, which allowed him to focus on advanced structural concepts and robotic assembly systems. After completing his SM , he began his doctoral studies at the Center for Bits and Atoms, advised by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld.

He is currently living in Seattle, WA with his wife and dog Yoko, and is developing a start-up to commercialize lattice production based on the technologies developed at MIT.