Prof. Thomas (TJ) Wallin

Thomas John “T.J.” Wallin joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as an assistant professor in January 2024. As a researcher, Wallin’s interests lay in advanced manufacturing of functional soft matter, with an emphasis on soft wearable technologies and their applications in human-computer interfaces. Previously, he was a research scientist at Meta’s Reality Labs Research working in their haptic interaction team. Wallin earned a B.S. in physics and chemistry from the College of William and Mary, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Cornell University.

Professor Wallin also has extensive expertise in additive manufacturing. He has explored the use of soft materials in 3D-printed devices, such as actuators and “automatically perspiring soft robots” that use sweat as a cooling mechanism.