Varda Hagh, an assistant professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering, joined the Beckman Institute in summer 2025.

Hagh’s research interests include material design, collective assembly and control of emergent behavior in distributed autonomous systems.

They earned their Ph.D. in Physics at Arizona State University in 2018, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago (2018–2023). Hagh joined the MechSE department at Illinois at the end of 2023.

“I am excited to join the Beckman Institute as part of the Autonomous Materials Systems Group,” Hagh said. “Beckman provides a uniquely collaborative environment with outstanding resources and opportunities, and I look forward to contributing to and learning from this vibrant community. I am especially enthusiastic about advancing research aligned with my interests, including projects in space manufacturing.”

Hagh’s research focuses on developing bottom-up design principles for emergent behaviors in complex systems, with applications in advanced manufacturing. Within the AMS Group, they collaborate with colleagues on growth printing. They use geometric approaches such as spatiotemporal circle packings to plan paths for multi-initiation growth printing.