Soft Science Expert Interview Series - Prof. Raudel Avila
On January 21, 2026, the Editorial Office of Soft Science hosted an online interview with Prof. Raudel Avila, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, and a newly appointed Editorial Board Member of the journal.
In this interview, Prof. Avila discusses how flexible and wearable bioelectronics are advancing healthcare through soft, body-integrated systems for continuous, noninvasive monitoring. He highlights the clinical motivations behind emerging technologies, including his team's wireless wearable device for tracking milk intake during breastfeeding, and explains how computational modeling and simulation guide reliable device design. Prof. Avila also shares insights into the challenges of translating stretchable electronic systems from laboratory research to real-world clinical applications, as well as his outlook on the future of bioelectronics as an increasingly interdisciplinary and patient-centered field.
Watch the full interview with Prof. Raudel Avila:
Interview Questions:
Q1. Your research centers on flexible and stretchable bioelectronic systems that integrate mechanics, materials, and wireless electronics. From a broad perspective, what core challenges in healthcare and health monitoring motivate your work?
Q2. In 2025, you co-authored a study in Nature Biomedical Engineering on a wireless wearable system for continuous monitoring of milk intake during breastfeeding. What clinical need drove this research, and how did it shape the overall system design?
Q3. Modeling and computation play a central role in your research. In this 2025 study, how did theoretical and computational analysis guide key design decisions and improve the reliability of continuous, noninvasive sensing?
Q4. Compared with earlier work on strain-invariant stretchable radio frequency (RF) electronics, what new challenges arose when translating these concepts into a wearable device designed to function reliably on the human body?
Q5. Looking ahead, how do you see the field of flexible and wearable bioelectronics evolving over the next few years, particularly in the transition from laboratory prototypes to clinically viable systems?
Q6. Looking back at your academic journey so far, which experiences or decisions have most influenced the way you approach research today?
About the Interviewee:
Prof. Raudel Avila
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
Prof. Avila joined Rice University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2023. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (2017) from The University of Texas at El Paso, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (2023) from Northwestern University in Evanston, USA, under the guidance of Prof. Yonggang Huang. He was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, and received the Outstanding Researcher Award from the International Institute of Nanotechnology. In 2022, he was selected as a Future Trailblazer in Engineering by Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA, for his potential impact in expanding representation and diversity in engineering.
Prof. Avila's research focuses on modeling and simulation of bioelectronics for healthcare and biomedical applications. His research laboratory aims to develop a theoretical and computational framework to study the scalability, packaging, power limitations, tissue interactions, and energy absorption in bioelectronic devices. He is interested in developing bioelectronic design concepts to yield ingenious mechanical capabilities with sufficient electromagnetic efficiency at both the material and device levels for wireless signal sensing, mechanical manipulation, clinical imaging, and energy harvesting applications. Inspired by the potential to advance patient care by leveraging engineering concepts, Prof. Avila's research aims to expand bioelectronics capabilities by combining mechanics, materials, and electromagnetics design in emerging applications including dissolvable pacemakers, microfluidic devices for sweat collection, ultra-soft biosensors for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients, implantable optogenetic devices, bioresorbable temperature sensors and pacemakers, miniaturized pressure sensors for prosthetics, and drug delivery technologies.
Editor: Jinyi Li
Language Editor: Catherine Yang
Production Editor: Ting Xu
Respectfully Submitted by the Editorial Office of Soft Science
