Yin Chang graduated from National Tsing-Hua University with MS in Material Science. She is a current PhD candidate in Department of Chemistry and Department of Engineering at University of Cambridge working on soft matter optics and mechanics.
Yin is interested in how hierarchical stuctures tune the visual appearance and mechanical strength of materials. She does research in morphogenesis and structural colour of weevils and fruits by using micro-CT, EM, AFM-IR and FDTD simulation. Her collaboration with Dr. Hui-Yun Tseng's Conservation & Evolutionary Biology Lab in Taiwan focuses on the evolution and functions of structural colours and mechanical strength of elytra of Pachyrhynchus weevils. Her recent publication reveals the hereditary structural parameters of Pachyrhynchus sarcitis which enables this species to tune its visual colour in just one generation. With the success of the hybridization technique developed in Dr. Tseng's lab, Yin is studying the self-assembly mechanisms of the 3D photonic crystals in the weevils' scales.
To understand the dynamics and solid-fluid coupling physics (poroviscoelasticity) of soft matters, Yin is using multi-scale indentation techniques, micro-rheometers and molecular dynamic simulations to understand the fundamental science of material interactions. Yin’s work can be extended to research on structural and mechanical behaviour in both synthetic and biological systems. She aims at providing design strategies on microstructures for making devices with controllable optical, mechanical and fluid transport properties independently to mimic natural behaviours.