About

Corentin Coulais is a pioneering physicist and engineer whose research sits at the intersection of mechanical metamaterials, soft matter physics, and active matter. His work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how carefully engineered structures can exhibit extraordinary and counterintuitive mechanical behaviors, particularly in the realm of non-reciprocity — the phenomenon where mechanical signals propagate differently depending on direction. His landmark studies on static and dynamic non-reciprocity in mechanical metamaterials (with 377 and 472 citations respectively) established foundational principles now widely adopted across robotics, wave guiding, and vibration damping. His combinatorial approach to designing textured metamaterials (436 citations) opened new avenues for programmable material behavior. More recently, Coulais has pushed into active matter, exploring how internally driven solids can achieve adaptive locomotion and shape morphing, with theoretical frameworks describing collective rigid-body motion and deformation mechanisms. His work on auxetic meta-shells addresses critical real-world engineering challenges, including preventing catastrophic torsional buckling in biological and structural systems. Across a body of work accumulating well over 1,500 citations, Coulais has established himself as a leading voice in next-generation intelligent and programmable materials.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

11
H-Index
17
Papers
1,634
Total Citations
96
Avg Citations/Paper
🏆 Most Cited Paper
Non-reciprocal robotic metamaterials
472 citations · 2019
📈 Most Prolific Year: 2024 (4 Papers)
🤝 Key Collaborators: 74
🏛 Institutions: University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, Huygens Institute for History and Culture of the Netherlands, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, GGD Amsterdam

Top Papers

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    Shape-morphing metamaterials
    40 citations · 2025
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Key Collaborators

Contact & Links

Available for collaboration
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