HARVARD
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
 
 
 
Graduate Student

Paul Le Floch
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences



Paul Le Floch a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences at Harvard SEAS working in the laboratories of Zhigang Suo. His research focuses on stretchable electronics that can connect biological systems with electronic devices. Biological materials are soft, wet, and stretchable, while standard electronics is stiff, dry, and brittle. New materials must be developed to interface biology and electronics. Working in IRG3, he recently developed hydrogel-elastomer ionic conductors with long-term durability in air and water, which can be used for wearable electronics. Paul is now working on hermetic seals for stretchable electronics. Silica glass and other ceramics are often used to seal electronic devices and limit exchanges of oxygen and water with the ambient atmosphere. He is investing ways to make glass stretchable to better serve is these important applications. Paul participates in the MRSEC-supported New England Complex Fluids and New.MECH workshops as well as mentors other graduate students in their teaching practices at Harvard's Bok Center for Teaching and Learning.