Cynthia Sung

Cynthia Sung is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics department at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science, with secondary appointments in Computer and Information Science and Electrical and Systems Engineering. She directs the Sung Robotics Lab, focusing on computational methods for robot design, origami robotics, planning for distributed systems, and fabrication of reconfigurable systems. Her lab is funded by NSF, ONR, ARO, NASA, and Penn Health-Tech.

Her research spans four key areas:

• Computational co-design integrating mechanical, electronic, and software components
• Soft/origami robotics leveraging compliance for adaptable systems
• Distributed planning for multi-robot coordination
• Novel fabrication techniques for deployable structures

Publications show consistent focus on robotic mechanisms with recent trends in magnetic origami reconfiguration (2025), underwater jet coordination (2025), educational robotics kits (2025), and tunable-stiffness actuators (2024). Article keywords predominantly fall in Robotics, Material Science, and Control Systems.

Awards & Recognition

• ONR Young Investigator Award (2023)
• NSF CAREER Award (2019)
• Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM2D Scholars Award (2020)
• Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award (2017)

Research Teams & Advising

Leads the GRASP Lab-affiliated Sung Robotics group. Current doctoral students include Zhiyuan Yang (jet propulsion), Daniel Feshbach (kinematic design), and Gabriel Unger (reconfigurable structures). Recent graduates include Yipeng Zhang (MSc, SALP robotics) and Christopher Kim (PhD, self-sensing actuators).