Salvador Rojas earned his bachelor’s degree (2016) and master’s degree (2018), both in mechanical engineering at California State University (CSULA). Currently, he is a fifth-year PhD student in mechanical engineering at Purdue University studying origami-like structures from biological examples, such as the folding mechanisms in insect wings, to establish design principles to simplify the actuation and control of robotic systems. He won the Best Paper Award for Reconfigurable Mechanisms on this topic at ReMAR 2021. Future work will include studying controllable, rigid, and soft robotic structures and designing large, deployable, and sophisticated shape-targeting structures. A first-generation college student and former foster youth, Rojas worked as a manufacturing engineer intern for the entirety of his undergraduate education. A Lambert Fellow and recipient of the George Washington Carver Fellowship at Purdue, he also is a mentor in the Programmable Structures Lab, tutored Purdue athletes, and served as a graduate ambassador in the First-Generation Student Success program. In fall 2024, he will assume a tenure-track faculty position at CSULA, where he envisions developing a self-sustainable, grant-funded lab program. He will prioritize multicultural/multiethnic student collaborations, foster STEAM education through engineering design principles, and promote professional growth to prepare students to be future engineers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.

Research Interests

Programmable Structures, Bioinspired, Robotics, Origami, Dynamics