PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Cynthia Sung

Cynthia Sung is a Penn researcher whose work applies computational methods to robot design. She earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering at Rice in 2011 and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT in 2016, then co-led the Interactive Robogami paper, which presents a system for designing and fabricating origami-inspired robots. Her awards include an NSF CAREER award, a Women in STEM2D Scholars Award, an ONR Young Investigator award, and an Army Research Office Early Career Award; her lab developed CurveQuad, and she led a NASA-linked project for lunar robotics. As of October 2026, she is an associate professor in Penn's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics.

Works
94
Citations
1,386
h-index
17

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2011–2016

    Engineering degrees at Rice and MIT

    She earns a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rice in 2011 and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 2016.

  2. 2017

    Interactive Robogami

    In 2017, she co-leads the Interactive Robogami paper, which presents a system for designing and fabricating origami-inspired robots.

  3. 2019

    An NSF CAREER award

    In 2019, she receives an NSF CAREER award for work that uses data clustering and computational geometry to make engineering design for robots more accessible.

  4. 2020

    A Johnson & Johnson award

    In 2020, she receives a Women in STEM2D Scholars Award.

  5. 2023

    An ONR Young Investigator award

    In 2023, she receives the ONR Young Investigator award.

  6. 2024

    An ARO award and CurveQuad

    In 2024, she receives an Army Research Office Early Career Award, while her lab's CurveQuad robot folds, unfolds, crawls, and steers with one motor.

  7. 2025

    Robots for lunar terrain

    In 2025, she leads a NASA-linked project named Temporarily, Robots Unite to Surmount Sandy Entrapments, then Separate, to build robots that can interact with lunar surfaces.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at Penn

    As of October 2026, she is an associate professor in Penn's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics; her work applies computational methods to robot design.

Career

  1. Since 2018University of PennsylvaniaAssociate professor
  2. 2012–2017MIT CSAIL

Education

  1. 2016Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPh.D. in electrical engineering and computer science
  2. 2011Rice UniversityB.S. in mechanical engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Pouch Motors: Printable Soft Actuators Integrated with Computational Design2015 · Soft Robotics · 319 citationsWith Daniela Rus
  2. An untethered miniature origami robot that self-folds, walks, swims, and degrades2015 · IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation · 260 citationsWith Daniela Rus
  3. Spotlight on origami robots2018 · Science Robotics · 76 citationsWith Daniela Rus
  4. Trajectory clustering for motion prediction2012 · IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) · 70 citationsWith Daniela Rus
  5. Interactive robogami: An end-to-end system for design of robots with ground locomotion2017 · The International Journal of Robotics Research · 60 citationsWith Daniela Rus

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Pennsylvania. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Pennsylvania. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes University of Pennsylvania. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Pennsylvania. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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

  1. Cynthia Sung risingstars-eecs.mit.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Custom robots in a matter of minutes news.mit.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Igor Bargatin, Sudeep Bhatia, Weijie Su, Cynthia Sung, Liang Feng: NSF CAREER Awards almanac.upenn.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. UBISS 2026 - Workshops & Instructors ubicomp.oulu.fi. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Cynthia Sung: WiSTEM2D Scholars Award almanac.upenn.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Folding the future: The rise of origami-inspired robots nsf.gov. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Penn researchers work with NASA to design robot systems for extraterrestrial environments thedp.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Soft and Origami Robotics curf.upenn.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.