Sylvia Tan Receives Mechanical Engineering's Belytschko Outstanding Research Award

CRB PhD graduate Sylvia Tan received the Northwestern Mechanical Engineering Belytschko Outstanding Research Award in June, 2026. Given annually to an exceptional graduating PhD student, the award commemorates the legacy of Ted Belytschko, a distinguished McCormick School of Engineering professor whose work helped shape the field of computational structural mechanics. 

Tan’s research in haptics has earned broad recognition, most recently through her thesis, Human-Resolution Haptic Displays for Realistic Texture Perception. Her research has been published in prestigious outlets such as Science Advances and has been covered in Popular Science and Fast Company. 

In addition to this latest honor, Tan received the TCH Innovation Award in Haptics Research from the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics. Other awards from Northwestern include the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Mentorship Award, the Design Research Cluster Fellowship, the Graduate Leadership and Service Award, and the Cabell Fellowship. 

Congratulations, Sylvia!