Assistant Professor with broad experience in multidisciplinary and collaborative researchSubstantial expertise in multifunctional material applications, such as lithium-ion battery actuators, energy scavenging devices, and shape shifting robotsResearch interests: (1) Energy harvesting devices; Soft robotics for rehabilitation applications, (3) Design optimization of multifunctional materials for soft robotics devicesCody Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Riverside in 2016 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State in 2021. He is also the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program Fellowship. His research centers on the intersection of soft robotics, multifunctional materials, and design optimization. He focuses on applying design optimization techniques to novel analytical models and simulations to inform optimal experimental designs. Applications include optimization of energy harvester geometry for maximum power output. He has nine archival publications and one provisional patent. Topics of interest include magneto-mechano electric (MME) energy harvesting; analytical modeling of segmented, multilayer, multimember actuators; and development of flexible silicon anode-based lithium-ion battery soft robots.