Huajian Gao
Professor of Engineering:
Engineering
Phone: +1 401 863 2626
Huajian_Gao@brown.edu
Professor Gao's research group is generally interested in understanding the basic principles that control mechanical properties and behaviors of both engineering and biological systems. Current research includes studies of how metallic and semiconductor materials behave in thin film and nanocrystalline forms, and how biological materials such as bones, geckos, and cells achieve their mechanical robustness through structural hierarchy.
Biography
Professor Huajian Gao is the Walter H. Annnenberg University Professor at Brown University. He received his B.S. degree from Xian Jiaotong University of China in 1982, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He served on the faculty of Stanford University between 1988 and 2002, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1994 and to full Professor in 2000. He was appointed as Director and Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany between 2001 and 2006. He joined Brown University in 2006. Professor Gao has a background in applied mechanics and engineering science. He has more than 20 years of research experience with 200+ publications.
Interests
Concepts and methods in continuum, atomistic and statistical mechanics are being developed to model nanoscale and hierarchical materials systems in engineering and biology. Systems and phenomena of interest include hierarchical structures of bone and gecko, cell adhesion, endocytosis, thin films, dynamic fracture, carbon nanotubes, and biomolecules. Fundamental concepts under study include diffusion, dislocations, fracture, grain boundary, stiffness, toughness, contact, adhesion, viscoelasticity, convergent evolution, flaw tolerance, size effects, shape optimization, self-assembly, and bottom-up hierarchical materials design. Applications of research include microelectronic and optoelectronic devices, nanotechnology, nano- and hierarchical materials engineering, biomimetics, bio-sensing, and gene/drug delivery systems. Professor Gao is a receipient of numerous academic awards including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Best Achievement Award for Young Investigators in Applied Mechanics, the Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator Award, the Chang Jiang Guest Chair Professorship of Tsinghua University, the Outstanding Oversea Young Investigator Award by the Ministry of Education of China. the Humboldt Research Fellowship, the NSF Young Investigator Award, the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the IBM Faculty Development Award, and the Alcoa Science Award. He is Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Degrees
PhD
Awards
Midwestern Mechanics Lecturer, 2005-2006.
Wissenschaftspreis des Stifterverbands (Research innovation award), Max Planck Society, 2005.
Society of Engineering Science, Board of Directors, 2005.
Young Investigator Award, Society of Engineering Science, 2005.
Fellow, Institute of Physics (Great Britain), 2004.
George Wallace Melville Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.
Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 2003-.
Oversea Director, Shenyang Center for Interfacial Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2003-
Scientific Member (Director), Max Planck Society, 2001-.
Outstanding Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation of China, 2000.
Chang Jiang Guest Chair Professor at Tsinghua University, Chinese Ministry of Education, 2000-2005
Special Achievement Award for Young Investigators in Applied Mechanics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1999.
Humboldt Fellowship, 1997.
Alcoa Science Award, 1996.
Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship Award, 1995.
NSF Young Investigator Award, 1993-1998.
IBM Faculty Development Award, 1992-1993.
Schlumberger Fellowship, 1988.
Harvard University Graduate Scholarship, 1984.
Xian Jiaotong University, ''SAN HAO XUE SHENG'' medal, 1979-1982.
Xian Jiaotong University Scholarship, 1978-1982.
Affiliations
Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers;
Fellow, Institute of Physics;
Life Member, American Geophysical Union;
Member, Materials Research Society;
Member, American Physical Society;
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Funded Research
Research Sponsored by U.S. Federal Agencies
Title: Research Initiation Award: Perturbation Studies on Cracks, Interfaces and Surfaces.
Funding agency: National Science Foundation
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: July 1, 1990 – December 31, 1992.
Amount: $70,000.
Title: Stability and Stress Analysis of Surface Morphology of Elastic and Piezoelectric Materials
Funding agency: Department of Energy
Funding Period: August 1, 1991 –April 30, 2001.
Role: Principal Investigator
co-PI: George Herrmann before April 30, 1995; David Barnett after May 1, 1995.
Amount: $1,155,235.
Title: NSF Young Investigator Award: Micromechanics of Advanced Materials
Funding source: National Science Foundation
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: October 1, 1993 – September 30, 1999.
Amount: $312,000.
Title: Mechanics and Mechanical Properties of Heteroepitaxial Thin Film Structures.
Funding source: Office of Naval Research
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: William D. Nix.
Funding Period: September 30, 1992 – September 30, 1996
Amount: $464,625.
Title: Mechanics in Material Space and Analysis of Defects.
Funding source: Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Role: co-PI (PI is George Herrmann).
Funding Period: July 30, 1995 – September 30, 1998
Amount: $464,625.
Title: A Virtual Internal Bond Approach to Fracture Simulation
Funding source: National Science Foundation
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: June 1, 1999 – May 31, 2000.
Amount: $51,315.
Title: Computational Methods for Mechanism-Based Higher Order Continuum Theories
Funding source: National Science Foundation
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: October 1, 1999 – September 30, 2002.
Amount: $211,087.
Title: Computational Nano-Engineering of Patterned Magnetic Nanostructures
Funding source: National Science Foundation
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: William Nix, Bruce Clemens, Kyeongjae Cho, Daryl Chrzan
Funding Period: October 1, 2000 – September 30, 2005.
Amount: $1,600,000
Title: Mechanism-based theories of strengthening and hardening for alloy design and processing
Funding source: National Science Foundation
Role: co-Investigator (PI is Yonggang Huang)
Funding Period: October 1, 2000 – September 30, 2003.
Amount: $400,000
Title: Mechanism-based modeling and simulation in nanomechanics,
Funding source: National Science Foundation (Nirt)
Role: co-Investigator (PI is Guanshui Xu)
Funding Period: October 1, 2001 – September 30, 2005.
Amount: $1,100,000
Research Sponsored by Stanford University (1988-2002)
Title: Ductile Versus Brittle Crack Tip Responses.
Funding agency: NSF-MRL through CMR seed grant.
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: January 1, 1989 – June 30, 1991.
Amount: $78,400.
Title: Mechanics of Interface Cracks.
Funding source: Office of Technology License Research Grant, Stanford University.
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: October 1, 1991 - September 30, 1992.
Amount: $25,000.
Title: Mechanics of Heteroepitaxial Thin Films.
Funding source: Office of Technology License Research Grant, Stanford University.
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: William D. Nix.
Funding Period: October 1, 1996 - September 30, 1997.
Amount: $35,000.
Research Sponsored by U.S. National Laboratories
Title: Cohesive Models of Fracture
Funding source: Sandia National Laboratories
Role: Principal Investigator.
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: November 7, 1997 – September 30, 1999.
Amount: $109,995.
Research Sponsored by Industry
Title: Mechanics of Micro- and Nano- indentation Testing of Thin Film Coating.
Funding agency: IBM Almaden Research Center.
Amount: $147,000
Role: Principal Investigator
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: 9/1/90 -8/31/94.
Title: Alcoa Science Award: Micromechanics of Plasticity and Fracture.
Funding agency: Alcoa Inc.
Amount: $7,500
Role: Principal Investigator
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: October 1, 1996 - September 30, 1997.
Title: Failure Based Design of Metal-Composite Structures.
Funding agency: U.S. Windpower.
Amount: $70,000
Role: Principal Investigator
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: October 1, 1994 - September 30, 1996.
Title: Thermomechanical Fracture in Microelectronic Devices.
Funding agency: Intel Corp.
Amount: $90,000
Role: Principal Investigator
co-PI: None.
Funding Period: October 1, 1997 - September 30, 2000.
Research Sponsored by German Federal Government (2001-2006)
Title: Dynamic Properties of Piezoelectric Materials.
Funding Source: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG),
Role: Principal Investigator
co-PI: None
Funding Period: June 1, 2002-May 30, 2005
Amount: 200,000 Euros
Title: Theory of Mesoscopic Phenomena of Materials.
Funding Source: Max Planck Society
Role: Director
co-PI: None
Funding Period: January 1, 2001-June 30, 2006
Amount: 3,000,000 Euros
