Professional Background

Michael is a postdoctoral researcher within the High Performance Materials group in the Materials Science Division. Before he joined LLNL in 2020, Michael was a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University working on multifunctional materials for stretchable electronics and soft robotics.

Research Interests

• Soft matter synthesis and processing
• Additive manufacturing formulations
• Plastic scintillators

PhD, Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018

BS, Chemistry, University of California, Davis, 2012

1. Ambulo, C. P., Ford, M. J., Searles, K., Majidi, C., Ware, T. H., 4D-Printable Liquid Metal–Liquid Crystal Elastomer Composites. ACS. Appl. Mater. Inter. (2020).
2. Ford, M. J., Patel, D. K., Bergbreiter, S., Majidi, C. Controlled assembly of liquid metal inclusions as a general approach for multifunctional composites. Adv. Mater. (2020).
3. Pan, C., Liu, D., Ford, M. J., Majidi, C. Ultrastretchable, Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Sedimented Liquid Metal Elastomer Composite. Adv. Mater. Tech. (2020).
4. Zolfaghari, N., Khandagale, P., Ford, M. J., Dayal, K., Majidi, C. Network topologies dictate electromechanical coupling in liquid metal–elastomer composites. Soft Matter. (2020).
5. Vollbrecht, J., Lee, J., Ko, S.-J., Brus, V. V., Karki, A., Le, W., Seifrid, M., Ford, M. J., Cho, K., Bazan, G. C., Nguyen, T.-Q. Design of narrow bandgap non-fullerene acceptors for photovoltaic applications and investigation of non-geminate recombination dynamics. J. Mater. Chem. C. (2020).
6. Ford, M. J., Suzuki, M., Bridges, C. R., Bustillo, K. C., Seifrid, M., Wang, M., Yamada, H., Nguyen, T.-Q., Bazan, G. C. Robust Unipolar Electron Conduction using an Ambipolar Polymer Semiconductor with Solution-Processable Blends. Chem. Mater. (2020).
7. Huang, X., Ford, M. J., Patterson, Z. J., Zarepoor, M., Pan, C., Majidi, C. Shape memory materials for electrically-powered soft machines. J. Mater. Chem. B. (2020).
8. Hellebrekers, T., Chang, N., Chin, K., Ford, M. J., Kroemer, O., Majidi, C. Soft Magnetic Tactile Skin for Continuous Force and Location Estimation Using Neural Networks. IEEE Rob. And Auto. Lett. (2020).
9. Kent, T. A., Ford, M. J., Markvicka, E. J., Majidi, C. Soft actuators using liquid crystal elastomers with encapsulated liquid metal joule heaters. Multifunctional Materials. (2020).
10. Ford, M. J., Palaniswamy, M., Ambulo, C. P., Ware, T. H., Majidi, C. Size of liquid metal particles influences actuation properties of a liquid crystal elastomer composite. Soft Matter. (2020).
11. Ford, M. J., Ambulo, C. P., Kent, T. A., Markvicka, E. J., Pan, C., Malen, J. Ware, T. H., Majidi, C. A Multifunctional Shape Morphing Elastomer with Liquid Metal Inclusions. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (2019).

Google Scholar page

• Graduate Opportunity Mentor Fellowship, 2017
• APS Ovshinsky/DMP Travel Award, 2017
• MRL-Dow Travel Fellowship, 2016
• International Center for Materials Research Fellowship, 2015
• ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry, 2012
• UC Davis McNair Scholar Award, 2011