FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Science
James Utama Surjadi
Age 30 · Architected metamaterials · Indonesia / Hong Kong / United States
First author of a 2025 Nature Materials study making printed metamaterials strong and stretchable through double-network architecture.
- Approximate age at the edition eligibility date
- 30
- Field
- Mechanical materials
- Country or region
- Indonesia / Hong Kong / United States
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 78.2 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Materials are often strong or stretchable, rarely both. James Utama Surjadi first-authored a 2025 Nature Materials study that combined stiff microscopic struts with a softer woven network, producing a printed metamaterial able to carry load while deforming without catastrophic fracture.
In 2026 he also contributed to a Nature Communications design framework for programmable three-dimensional woven metamaterials, allowing researchers to specify how a lattice stretches, entangles and ultimately fails. The sequence moves from a material demonstration toward a reusable design system.
The structures are printed research specimens, not yet textiles, implants or chip packaging. Surjadi's contribution is to make architecture—not only chemistry—the controllable source of toughness and compliance.
FigureAsia selection
Why James Utama Surjadi is on the list
Surjadi is selected for a completed materials advance with clear first authorship and a strong follow-on framework. His work turns failure from an outcome into a design variable, expanding the property combinations available to architected matter.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
Strong and stretchy metamaterial
First-authored a double-network architecture in Nature Materials.
Programmable woven lattices
Contributed to a design framework for three-dimensional woven metamaterials.
Architecture-to-failure control
Demonstrated how geometry can tune deformation, entanglement and fracture.
Field context
The work in its field
Architected materials derive behaviour from geometry. The field's challenge is to make that geometry predictable, manufacturable and robust when defects and repeated loading appear.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
78.2out of 100
Substantive 2025–2026 contribution
14.5 / 20
First-authored a double-network architecture in Nature Materials.
Verified scientific impact
10.9 / 15
Back-to-back papers in Nature Materials and Nature Communications establish a strong, coherent design programme.
Originality and distinction
8 / 10
The distinction lies in double-network and woven architectures that combine strength, extensibility and programmable failure.
Field influence
7.6 / 10
Within mechanical materials, the work matters because it shifts a live question in architected metamaterials rather than merely attracting attention.
Individual agency
8.1 / 10
Surjadi is first author of the 2025 material result and a named contributor to the 2026 design framework.
Durability and trajectory
4.3 / 5
As Postdoctoral Researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Surjadi has a platform to carry the work into its next stage.
Asian significance and global relevance
4.2 / 5
Indonesian-born scientist with a City University of Hong Kong doctorate and an active Southeast Asian diaspora record.
Evidential validity and reproducibility
6.5 / 8
Printed specimens and simulations support the reported properties; translation to other material classes remains prospective.
Advance in scientific knowledge
5.7 / 7
The work explains how entanglement and network hierarchy reshape the fracture behaviour of lattices.
Translational or methodological utility
4.2 / 5
The framework may guide printable textiles, flexible packaging, foams and tissue scaffolds after material-specific validation.
Responsible research stewardship
4.2 / 5
The profile distinguishes demonstrated polymers from proposed metals, ceramics and biomedical uses.