Biosketch

Huajian Gao received his B.S. degree from Xian Jiaotong University in 1982, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science from Harvard in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He served on the faculty of Stanford from 1988-2002, as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research from 2001-2006, as Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Engineering at Brown from 2006-2019 and as Distinguished University Professor at Nanyang Technological University from 2006-2024. At present, he is one of the University Professors at Tsinghua University. Professor Gao’s research has been focused on the understanding of basic principles that control mechanical properties and behaviors of materials in both engineering and biological systems. He is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, the flagship journal in his field. His list of honors includes elections as Fellow of the Royal Society and Member of U.S. National Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea, as well as numerous academic awards including the Rodney Hill Prize, Timoshenko Medal and ASME Medal, the three highest lifetime achievement awards in his field.

Research Interests

Solid Mechanics, Nanomechanics, Biomechanics; Fracture Mechanics; Thin film Mechanics; Mechanics of Novel Structural and Functional Materials; Mechanics of Healthcare Materials; Mechanics of Energy Materials.

Membership Type

Member

Election Year

2018

Primary Section

Section 31: Engineering Sciences