Huajian Gao

Huajian Gao (born December 7, 1963) is a mechanician who is widely known for his contributions to the field of solid mechanics, particularly on the micro- and nanomechanics of thin films, hierarchically structured materials, and cell-nanomaterials interactions.

Huajian Gao received his B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Xi'an Jiaotong University of China in 1982, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He taught at Stanford University between 1988 and 2002, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1994 and to full Professor in 2000. He joined the Max Planck Society in 2001 as a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2006 he moved to Brown University as the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Engineering.

Gao is the editor of the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids.

Professor Gao has a background in applied mechanics and engineering science. His research interests span over Solid Mechanics, Nanomechanics and Biomechanics. He works on mechanics of thin films and hierarchically structured materials, mechanics of biological and bio-inspired materials, mechanics of nanostructured and nanotwinned materials, mechanics of cell adhesion, mechanics of cell-nanomaterials interactions, mechanics of energy storage systems, and mechanics of metallic glasses.

Professor Gao is the recipient of numerous academic honors, from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1995 to recent honors including the Humboldt Prize from Germany and Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics from the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in 2012. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012, and to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (as a foreign academician) in 2015.