Victor Charpentier is a structural engineer and Post-doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University with an interest for anything from personal comfort in building to energy storage. He was born in the Champagne region in north-east France. Victor got his Bachelor and Masters degree from the Ecole Nationale des Travaux publics de l’Etat in Lyon, France and spent some time at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussée in Champs-sur-Marne, France. He obtained his PhD from Princeton University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His work focuses on shape-shifting surfaces and on understanding how geometry influences the performance of structural systems. During his PhD thesis, he invented a new system of solar shading based on the principles guiding the movement of plants along with a new control strategy to increase the comfort of people inside buildings. During his post-doc he is developing his design into an advanced prototype.