Michael Bartlett named John R. Jones III Faculty Fellow
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2020, Bartlett is considered an emerging leader in his field of soft materials and bio-inspired engineering.
Michael Bartlett, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named the John R. Jones III Faculty Fellow in Mechanical Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
Established in 2007, the John R. Jones III Faculty Fellowship in Mechanical Engineering was established to acknowledge and reward early career faculty who have shown exceptional promise in research, teaching, or outreach. Recipients hold the renewable fellowship for a period of five years.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2020, Bartlett is considered an emerging leader in his field of soft materials and bio-inspired engineering. He has been externally recognized by a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award and Directors Fellowship, Adhesion Society Early Career Scientist Award, and 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, among others. His research has received a well-rounded portfolio of funding from federal, industry, and competitive internal sources.
Bartlett has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal papers, with 11 of those highlighted as cover articles and two featured as Top 2018 Papers in their respective journals. He has published 17 papers since 2021 alone, including articles in high-impact journals such as Advanced Materials, Science Robotics, Science Advances, Advanced Functional Materials, Nature Materials, the Soft Matter Emerging Investigator issue, and the Small Rising Star issue.
Bartlett has been invited to present at dozens of national meetings and departments throughout the country. In addition, he has been invited as a guest editor for a special issue on liquid metal at Advanced Functional Materials and an issue on liquid composites at Soft Matter; has organized sessions “Materials for Soft Technology” and “Elasticity and Capillarity” at the Adhesion Society; and served as chair of the Soft Adhesives Division in 2018-19.
His work has received extensive media coverage, including spots on NPR Science Friday, BBC Science Focus, Popular Mechanics, and others.
Bartlett has mentored four Ph.D. students to graduation and currently has six Ph.D. students and three master’s degree students. He also has mentored three postdoctoral fellows. Through active problem solving and science communication with course video projects, he has established himself as an effective and innovative teacher.
In addition, Bartlett has mentored 40 undergraduate students in his laboratory, resulting in 12 peer-reviewed journal articles with undergraduate co-authors listed. With his students, he has engaged with the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, the international World Science Festival in the Cool Jobs segment, and Women in Science and Engineering.
Bartlett received his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
