Yong Lin Kong, Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been selected to receive the prestigious 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award from 3M Corporation. This award recognizes outstanding new faculty who were nominated by 3M researchers and selected based on their research, experience, and academic leadership.

Kong is recognized for his work in multiscale 3D printing of electronics, which can enable better interfacing of electronics with three-dimensional constructs such as biomedical devices. The award is an unrestricted gift fund administered by 3M’s Research and Development Community and is given in partnership with 3M’s Corporate Giving Program to help the faculty members achieve tenure while remaining in their teaching positions and conduct research.

Kong received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and materials science from Princeton University in 2016 and was a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2016–2017) before he joins the University of Utah. His research focuses on the multiscale integration of nanomaterials in an extrusion-based 3D printing process,1 enabling the creation of unique functional bioelectronics2 that can address unmet clinical needs.3

  1. Elder, B., Neupane, R., Tokita, E., Ghosh, U., Hales, S. & Kong, Y. L.* Nanomaterial patterning in 3D printing. Adv. Mater. 1907142 (2020). doi:10.1002/adma.201907142
  2. Hales, S., Tokita, E., Neupane, R., Ghosh, U., Elder, B., Wirthlin, D. S. & Kong, Y. L.* 3D Printed nanomaterial-based electronic, biomedical, and bioelectronic devices. Nanotechnology (2019). doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ab5f29
  3. Ghosh, U., Ning, S., Wang, Y. & Kong, Y. L.* Addressing unmet clinical needs with 3D printing technologies. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 1800417 (2018). doi:10.1002/adhm.201800417