Jonathan B. Hopkins
American professor
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Jonathan Brigham Hopkins is a professor of mechanical engineering at UCLA where he serves as Director of the Flexible Research Group and Vice-Chair for Graduate Affairs. Hopkins created the Freedom and Constraint Topologies (F.A.C.T.) system of mechanical design,[2][3] especially for the design of compliant mechanisms.
Dr. Jonathan Brigham Hopkins | |
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| Education | Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. 2010, M.S. 2007, B.S. 2005 |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Employer(s) | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Known for | Compliant mechanism and metamaterials research and design |
| Notable work | Creator of F.A.C.T. mechanical design framework |
| Title | ASME Fellow and Director of the Flexible Research Group at UCLA |
| Awards | Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2013)[1] |
| Website | https://flexible.seas.ucla.edu/ |
Honors
In February 2016 Hopkins was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Barack Obama as part of the award class of 2013.[4][5]
In 2021 Hopkins was elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).[6][7]
Hopkins' publication "Compliant Mechanisms That Use Static Balancing to Achieve Dramatically Different States of Stiffness" was selected for the 2021 Best Paper Award by the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics.[8]
FACT
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Hopkins introduced his Freedom and Constraint Topology (FACT) design paradigm in his 2007 Masters thesis.[2] The paradigm was further refined in his 2010 PhD thesis.[3] The paradigm synthesizes concepts from screw theory and projective geometry along with Maxwell's criterion for structural rigidity. FACT establishes a finite set of exactly 50 topologies which describe every possible configuration of flexure systems except for hybrid interconnected systems.
FACT is featured in chapter 6 of the Handbook of Compliant Mechanisms[9] edited by Hopkins' mentor Larry Howell.
YouTube Channel
Dr. Hopkins recorded his graduate level compliant mechanisms design course to offer virtual instruction to his students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hopkins self-published the course as a free lecture series on YouTube. His channel is called "The FACTs of Mechanical Design", named after his FACT design paradigm. As of 2024, the channel contains a wide range of content on the principles and applications of compliant mechanisms, along with an additional free lecture series on traditional rigid body mechanisms.[10]
Selected Patents
Selected publications
Hopkins has well over 50 academic publications. Only a subset is included here. "Design, material, function, and fabrication of metamaterials"[14]
"Compliant Mechanisms That Use Static Balancing to Achieve Dramatically Different States of Stiffness"[15]
"Phase-Changing Metamaterial Capable of Variable Stiffness and Shape Morphing"[16]