I am honored to apply for the Hong Kong Laureate Forum, where I look forward to meeting inspirational minds from around the world. I am eager to explore and discuss the latest breakthroughs and emerging trends in the disciplines of astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences. Particularly, I am excited to share my passion for mathematical sciences and my research on geometric mechanics, with the Shaw Laureates, distinguished scientists and wider audiences. Standing at the intersection of mathematical sciences and engineering, I aim to show mathematics that is tangible in the rational design of reconfigurable structures and metamaterials, especially those inspired by origami, kirigami and tensegrity. I am keen to expose my views to and gain insights from researchers in different disciplines, establishing interdisciplinary collaborations that drive cutting-edge science and technology. As a junior researcher, I highly value the opportunity to connect with like-minded young scientists, share research stories, and build lasting collaborations. Most importantly, I cherish the chance to engage with the Shaw Laureates, seeking their guidance and wisdom as I navigate my research journey.

My research lies at the intersection of mathematical sciences and engineering, focusing on the geometric mechanics of reconfigurable structures and metamaterials, especially those inspired by origami, kirigami, and tensegrity. I use mathematical tools, including differential geometry, matrix analysis and numerical optimization, to understand, design and predict mechanical properties that originate from geometry, instead of constituent materials, of these structures and metamaterials. I use mathematical findings to realize shape-morphing structures, topological metamaterials and untethered soft robots. My research has covered rigidly and flat foldable origami, self-locking axisymmetric origami, rigidly deployable planar kirigami and bistable spherical kirigami. I have also integrated origami and kirigami to design three-dimensional reconfigurable assemblies, including those that can morph between different closed surfaces, shift from a single thin surface to thick functional metamaterials, or undergo extremely large multimodal deformations. Currently, I am interested in describing statics and kinematics, the two intertwined branches of mechanics, in a unified mathematical theory. I am exploring the quantitative duality and its invariance under mathematical transformations, between the states of self-stress and the infinitesimal mechanisms of pin-jointed frameworks. I aim to use the duality theory to design new origami mechanisms and tensegrity structures, which are relevant for space exploration and astrophysics.