PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Bolei Deng

Also known as 邓博磊

Bolei Deng is an assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, where he applies AI to mechanical metamaterials and robotics. He earned a B.S. in engineering mechanics from Zhejiang University in 2016 and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and material science at Harvard University under Katia Bertoldi in 2021, designing elastic soliton metamaterials and self-regulated microstructures. From 2022 to 2023, he held a joint postdoctoral position at MIT between CSAIL and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research has combined neural networks with evolutionary search, physics-based simulations and differentiable simulators to design nonlinear metamaterials, stiff microstructured composites and tactile-sensing materials. In March 2026, he and Xinyi Yang built swarms of tiny robotic particles that latch, release and reorganize without electronics.

Timeline

  1. 2012–2021

    Degrees at Zhejiang and Harvard

    At Zhejiang University, he studies from 2012 to 2016 and earns a B.S. in engineering mechanics in 2016. In 2021, he completes a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and material science at Harvard University under Katia Bertoldi.

  2. August 2018

    Elastic soliton metamaterials

    In August 2018, as a Harvard graduate student, he is first author of a Nature Communications paper designing metamaterials with amplitude gaps that manipulate nonlinear elastic pulses through soliton splitters and diodes.

  3. 2022–2023

    Joint postdoc at MIT

    From 2022 to 2023, he undertakes a joint postdoctoral position at MIT between its Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and its Department of Mechanical Engineering.

  4. March 2022

    Neural inverse design

    At the APS March Meeting in March 2022, he presents a framework that uses neural networks and an evolutionary approach to inverse-design flexible mechanical metamaterials with target nonlinear stress-strain responses.

  5. May 2022

    Self-regulated motions in microstructures

    In May 2022, he coauthors a Nature paper from Harvard showing how non-reciprocal, stroke-like trajectories emerge in single-material microstructures through self-regulation.

  6. February 2024

    AI-designed microstructured composites

    In February 2024, he coauthors a Science Advances computational pipeline that combines physical experiments, physics-based simulations and neural networks to discover stiff, tough microstructured composites.

  7. March 2025

    Sensing through metamaterials

    At the APS Global Physics Summit in March 2025, he presents a mechanical metamaterial for tactile sensing, co-optimizing its geometry with a neural network through a differentiable simulator.

  8. As of October 2026

    Electronic-free particle robots

    As of October 2026, he is an assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. In March 2026, he and Xinyi Yang build swarms of tiny robotic particles that latch, release and reorganize without electronics.

Career

  1. NowGeorgia Institute of TechnologyAssistant Professor
  2. 2022–2023MIT CSAILPostdoctoral Researcher
  3. 2022–2023Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPostdoctoral Researcher

Education

  1. 2021Harvard UniversityPh.D.
  2. 2016Zhejiang UniversityB.S.

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes Georgia Institute of Technology. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Bolei Deng yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Bolei Deng ae.gatech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. People | CDML boleideng.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Metamaterials with amplitude gaps for elastic solitons - PMC pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Inverse design of nonlinear response in flexible mechanical metamaterials - APS March Meeting 2022 meetings-archive.aps.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Self-regulated non-reciprocal motions in single-material microstructures | Nature nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Using AI to discover stiff and tough microstructures | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology news.mit.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Sensing Through Mechanical Metamaterials - APS Global Physics Summit 2025 meetings-archive.aps.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. The Smartest Robots May Be the ‘Dumbest’ Ones | Research News Center news.research.gatech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.