Mohsen Shahinpoor

Mohsen (MO) Shahinpoor (born 1943) is an Iranian American engineer and researcher, best known for his research into the potential applications of smart materials in biomedical engineering. He is professor emeritus of the mechanical engineering department at the University of Maine, which he chaired from 2007 to 2014. He is also a professor at the university's Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering. and High-Pressure Shock Compression of Solids. His book entitled Fundamentals of Smart Materials is the first textbook on fundamentals of smart materials with a solutions manual. He has also published over 600 other publications, and is co-editor of a smart materials series published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Shahinpoor is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Physics, the National Academy of Inventors, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the International Association of Advanced Materials.

Shahinpoor is a topic editor-in-chief of Bioinspired Robotics, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, and a founding editor and editor-in-chief of International Journal of Environmentally Intelligent Design and Manufacturing. His work has been featured multiple times in media articles.

Education Shahinpoor completed his initial education in Iran, receiving his bachelor's of science in chemical, materials and petroleum engineering in 1966 from the Abadan Institute of Technology. He then moved to the United States and received his M.Sc. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Delaware in 1968; two years later, the school awarded him a PhD in both subjects. nano-bio engineering, intelligent robotic systems, robotic surgery, health engineering, heart assist systems, bionic vision and ophthalmological engineering as well as neuro and endovascular surgical tools and medical implants.

On the materials side, he and his students have invented the ionic polymeric, artificial muscles (IPMCs) as actuator, energy harvester and sensor, and robotic artificial muscles, wrote the first book on artificial muscles, and made smart materials contributions. His publication Biomimetic Robotic Venus Flytrap has received recognition by numerous journals and media channels. He also wrote the first textbook on robotics by a mechanical engineering professor and has contributed to soft biomimetic robots.

Ionic polymer-metal composites as biomimetic sensors, actuators and artificial muscles Shahinpoor has conducted extensive research on ionic polymeric-metal composites (IPMCs) and in a paper published in 1995, he explained the micro-electro-mechanics of ionic polymeric gels as electrically controllable artificial muscles. He introduced the mathematical modeling relating to IPMCs and identified the key parameters based on the vibrational and resonance characteristics of sensors and actuators made with IPMCs. He presented the successful working of artificial muscles in harsh cryogenic environments. Shahinpoor, along with Kwang J. Kim, published a paper in 2000s and presented a fabrication method for adjusting the scale of IPMC artificial muscles in a strip size of micro-to-centimeter thickness.

In the 2000s, Shahinpoor authored review papers on IPMCs and discussed the manufacturing techniques, phenomenological laws and mechanical characteristics of the composites along with the methodologies in developing high-force-density IPMCs. He also presented various modeling and simulation techniques, along with industrial and biomedical applications of IPMCs.

Advanced nanocomposites and electroactive polymers Shahinpoor worked with NASA in a study to reduce the mass, size, the instrumentation cost and the power consumed in its future missions. He studied two groups of electroactive polymer (EAP) materials such as bending ionomers and longitudinal electrostatically driven elastomers, which can be used as an alternative to current actuators. He conducted an analysis of the electrical characteristics of the ionomer EAP, discussed its major limitations, and developed an EAP driven miniature robotic arm which was controlled by a MATLAB code for the lifting and dropping of the arm, and for the opening and closing of EAP fingers of a 4-finger gripper.

Shahinpoor authored a paper in the late 1990s on the development of effective EAP driven mechanisms, which emulate human hands such as a gripper, manipulator arm and a surface wiper; and also highlighted the need for greater actuation force capability.

Neuro and endovascular surgical tools and medical implants Shahinpoor's research has also focused on neurological and endovascular surgical tools and medical implants. He has registered several patents relating to surgical tools and medical implants which include spinal implants, implantable pump apparatuses and self-powered micro-pump assembly. He developed zonular mini-bridge implants made of polymeric gels, silicone polymers or a composite, for the surgical correction of presbyopia and hyperopia.

Awards and honors 1977 - Engineering Researcher of the Year 1977 Award, selected jointly by the Academy of Sciences of Iran and Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Iran, awarded by Her Majesty the Queen Farah of Iran 1983 - Awarded "Eminent Engineer" title, U.S. National Engineering Honor Society 1986 - Award of Achievement for the creation of the world's first multi-station Robotics Instructional Laboratory at UNM, U.S. Society of Technical Communications 1986 - Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research, University of New Mexico's Burlington Northern Foundation 1988 - Halliburton Endowed Chair Professorship in CAD/CAM, CIM & Robotics, School of Engineering, University of New Mexico 1989 - Elected Fellow of ASME, American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2020 - Elected Fellow, International Association for Advanced Materials