Renate Sachse joins MPI-IS as new group leader

Renate Sachse’s research advances computational methods for designing intelligent structures that can actively shape, adapt, and respond to their environment. Her group develops high-fidelity simulation models to capture the complex, nonlinear deformation behavior of thin-walled, compliant, and soft robotic systems. A key focus is on engineering and programming nonlinear deformation patterns, as well as tailoring mechanical properties through geometry, material choice, and actuation. These methods aim to support the design of soft robotic and bioinspired structures that can achieve predictable, reliable and programmable motion.

Renate has recently been a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Munich and has completed a research stay at the Bertoldi Lab at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Stuttgart in 2020, combining computational mechanics with biomimetic design principles to focus on the development of soft robots and compliant mechanisms. 

Her work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Bertha Benz Prize 2022, the Dr. Wilhelmy-VDI Award, and the Klaus Tschira Boost Fund Fellowship.