Xinghua University Professor
Tsinghua University
Beijing 100084, China
Email: gao.huajian[at]tsinghua.edu.cn
Gao Research Group:
Brief Biography
Prof. 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 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 served as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research between 2001 and 2006, and then as Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Engineering at Brown University from 2006-2019. At present, he is the Xinghua University Professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Tsinghua University and the Walter H. Annenberg Emeritus Professor of Engineering at Brown University. Previously, Prof. Gao held the position of the Distinguished University Professors at Nanyang Technological University, and the Scientific Director of the Institute of High Performance Computing under the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*Star), Singapore.
Prof. 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 the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, the flagship journal of his field. He has been elected to memberships in the Royal Society, US National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, German National Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea. He has also received numerous awards and honors, including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics from the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, the William Prager Medal from Society of Engineering Science, the Nadai Medal, the Timoshenko Medal and the ASME Medal from American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Theodor von Karman Medal from American Society of Civil Engineers.
Academy Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
National Academy of Science of USA (NAS)
National Academy of Engineering of USA (NAE)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS)
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (GAS)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Academia Europaea (MAE)
Major Society Recognitions
ASME Medal (highest award of ASME and is to recognize “eminently distinguished engineering achievement”), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2023
ICF George Irwin Gold Medal (highest award of ICF), The International Congress on Fracture (ICF), 2023
Inaugural Michael P. Païdoussis Medal (highest award of RSC in applied mechanics), Royal Society of Canada (RSC), 2022
Zdenek P. Bazant Medal (highest award of ASCE in failure and damage; only one award every two years), Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2022
William D. Nix Award (highest award of TMS in mechanical behavior of materials), The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), 2022
Timoshenko Medal (highest medal of ASME in the field of applied mechanics), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2021
Senior Distinguished Research Achievement Award, Brown University (only one award in physical sciences per year for the whole university), 2018
Theodore von Karman Medal (highest medal of ASCE in engineering mechanics), Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2017
Nadai Medal (highest medal of ASME in engineering materials), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2015
William Prager Medal (highest medal of SES), Society of Engineering Science (SES), 2015
Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics (highest international award in mechanics; only one awardee every four years), International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2012
Alexander von Humboldt Research Award (highest German award for international scientists), Germany, 2012
Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award (highest joint award of Pi Tau Sigma and ASME), Pi Tau Sigma (National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society) and ASME, 2011
Guggenheim Fellowship (for exceptional scholarship or creativity; only 1-2 awards in engineering per year), John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 1995
Solid Mechanics, nanomechanics, biomechanics
Fracture mechanics
Thin film mechanics
Mechanics of Novel Structural and Functional Materials
Mechanics of Healthcare Materials
Mechanics of Energy Materials
Publications & Impact
Publication: >600 papers in refereed journals, including Nature and Nature family journals, Science, Advanced Materials, PNAS, Physical Review Letters, Nano Letters, and Proceedings of the Royal Society, as well as important journals in my field (e.g., JMPS, IJSS, JAM).
H-index: >130 (Google Scholar), >100 ISI Web of Science (Researcher ID F-9360-2010)
Total number of citations: >60K (Google Scholar), >43K (ISI Web of Science)
ISI Highly Cited Researcher, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), 2015, 2018 (link)
Awards & Honors
Naming of Huajian Gao Young Investigator Medal, Society of Engineering Science, 2024
Westlake Master Forum, Westlake University, 4 December 2023
2023 ASME Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), announced on May 22, 2023 (news)
Outstanding Scientist Award (highest award of CAST-USA; in recognition of accomplishments in innovative research in the field of Mechanics and Materials, and contributions to the scientific community), Chinese Association for Science and Technology USA (CAST-USA), 2023
Ranked #9 in the world among the top scientists in mechanical engineering, Elsevier October 2023 data-update for “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators”, 2023
Paper (“Achieving the theoretical limit of strength in shell-based carbon nanolattices,” PNAS, 2022, 119(34), e2119536119) identified as one of the most impressive discoveries in fundamental research over the past 2 years, Nanyang Technological University, 2023
The Huber and Helen Croft Lectureship in Engineering, University of Missouri, June 21, 2023
Plenary Lecture, Nanoenergy and Nanosystems 2023 conference (NENS2023), Beijing, June 17, 2023
Plenary Lecture, 93rd Annual Meeting, International Association of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (GAMM), Dresden, Germany, May 31, 2023
ASME Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2023
Election to Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 2023
Plenary Lecture, IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2023), Singapore, April 5, 2023
ICF George Irwin Gold Medal, The International Congress on Fracture (ICF), 2023
Outstanding Contribution Award, Journal of Materials Informatics, 2022
Plenary Lecture, Indian Structural Integrity Society, Structural Integrity Conference and Exhibition, December 16, 2022
Lloyd Hamilton Donnell Applied Mechanics Reviews Paper Award, Applied Mechanics Division, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2022
Inaugural Michael P. Païdoussis Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 2022
Plenary Lecture, International Symposium on Structural Integrity (ISSI2022), Changsha, China, October 14-17, 2022
Opening Plenary Lecture, First International Conference on Heterostructured Materials (HSM-I), Hong Kong, July 12-14, 2022
Zdenek P. Bazant Medal, Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2022
Opening Plenary Lecture, Inaugural Workshop on Micro-Nano Characterization and Testing Technologies, Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology, Chengdu, China, July 30-August 1, 2021
Honorary Fellow, International Association of Applied Mechanics (IAAM), 2021.
Opening Plenary Lecture, The 6th Cross-Strait Symposium on Dynamics, Vibration and Control (SDVC), Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, July 17-21, 2021
Opening Plenary Lecture, International Conference on Materials for Humanity 2021 (MH21), Singapore Materials Research Society, July 6-9, 2021
Timoshenko Medal (for distinguished contributions to the field of applied mechanics), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2021
Plenary Lecture, Indian Structural Integrity Society, Structural Integrity Conference and Exhibition, December 13, 2020
Plenary Lecture, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids Track, November 18, 2020
Plenary Lecture, Nanomedicine, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (Webinar), September 17, 2020
Guo Yonghuai Lecture on Advances in Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Mechanics, April 16, 2020
Plenary Lecture (Opening), The Adhesion Society, 43rd Annual Meeting, February 24, 2020
Outstanding Reviewer Award, Scripta Materialia, 2019
Closing Plenary Lecture, 56th Annual Technical Meeting, Society of Engineering Science, 2019
Distinguished University Professor (only 6 DUPs in the entire university), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 2019
James K. Knowles Lecture, California Institute of Technology, 2019
Elected Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2019
Elected Member of Academia Europae, 2018
The Dan and Carole Burack President’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Vermont, 2018
Elected Member of National Academy of Sciences, 2018
The Raymond D. Mindlin Lecture, Department of Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University & ASCE Metropolitan Section, Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Society of Civil Engineering, 2018
Senior Distinguished Research Achievement Award, Brown University (only one award in physical sciences per year for the whole university), 2018
Honorary Professorship, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2018
Martin Weiner Lecture Series, Physics Department Colloquium, Brandeis University, 2017
Elected as Honorary Fellow, International Congress on Fracture (ICF), 2017
Theodore von Karman Medal (highest medal of ASCE in engineering mechanics), Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2017
Elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, 2017
Faculty Fellow, Hagler Institute of Advanced Study (TIAS) at Texas A&M University, 2017
Southwest Mechanics Lecture Series (invited lecture tour of universities in the Southwestern region of USA), 2017
Fran and Eric Gebhardt Distinguished Lecture, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016
Wang Ren Lecture on Mechanics, Department of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Peking University, 2016
Rockwell Distinguished Lecture, University of Houston, 2016
Fowler Distinguished Lecture, Texas A&M University, 2016
CU-Boulder Aerospace Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, 2016
C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Seminar (DSS) Series, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016
Distinguished Visiting Chair Professor Scheme (DCPS), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2016-2017
Elected Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2015
Distinguished Lecture Series, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, 2015
Nadai Medal (for distinguished contributions and outstanding achievements which broaden the field of materials engineering), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2015
William Prager Medal (for outstanding research contributions in theoretical solid mechanics), Society of Engineering Science, 2015
James F. Bell Memorial Lecture in Continuum Mechanics, Johns Hopkins University, 2015
Martin & Lucinda Glicksman Seminar Series, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department, Florida Institute of Technology, 2015
ISI Highly Cited Researcher, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), 2015
Winston Chen Distinguished Lecture, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 2014
Yunchuan Aisinjioro-Soo Distinguished Lecture, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014
Inaugural Distinguished Lecturer, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, 2014
The 33rd Master Forum Lecturer, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2014
Honorary Professorship, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2013
Founding co-Director, Center for Advanced Mechanics and Materials, Tsinghua University, 2013
Van C. Mow Distinguished Lecture in Applied Mechanics, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2013.
Lee Hsun Lecture Award, Institute of Metals Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2012.
Founding co-Director, Center for Advanced Mechanics and Materials, Tsinghua University, 2012.
Inaugural Simpson Faculty Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2012.
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, 2012.
Timoshenko Distinguished Visitor, Mechanics and Computation Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2012.
Engineering Distinguished Lecture, The University of Hong Kong, 2012.
Institute of Advanced Study Distinguished Lecture, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2012.
Elected Member of National Academy of Engineering of USA, 2012.
Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2012.
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Prize (Humboldt-Forschungspreis), Federal Republic of Germany, 2012.
Honorary Professorship, Shanghai University, 2011.
ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 2011.
Stanford S. and Beverley P. Penner Distinguished Lecture in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 2011.
Y.C. Fung Lecture, California Institute of Technology, 2011.
Highly Commended Article, The James Clerk Maxwell Young Writers Prize, Journal of Philosophical Magazine, 2010 (with T.K. Bhandakkar, E. Chason).
Honorary Professorship, Xian Jiaotong University, 2009.
William Mong Distinguished Lectures, The University of Hong Kong, 2009.
ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.
Distinguished scholars and artists Advisor, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, 2008-2011.
Visiting Investigator Programme (VIP) Award, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, 2007-2012.
The Jerzy Nowinski Lecture, University of Delaware, 2007.
Distinguished Scholar Lecture, Arizona State University, 2007.
Co-editor-in-Chief of Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2006.
Midwestern Mechanics Lecturer, 2005-2006.
Wissenschaftspreis des Stifterverbands (Research innovation award; team leader is Prof. Eduard Arzt), Max Planck Society, 2005.
Elected Board of Directors, Society of Engineering Science, 2005.
Young Investigator Award, Society of Engineering Science, 2005.
Elected Fellow, The Institute of Physics, 2004.
George Wallace Melville Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.
Elected 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, 2001-2006.
Outstanding Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation of China, 2000.
Chang Jiang Chair Professorship Award, Chinese Ministry of Education, 2000.
Special Achievement Award for Young Investigators in Applied Mechanics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1999.
Humboldt Fellowship Award, 1997.
Alcoa Science Award, 1996.
Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship Award, 1995.
NSF Young Investigator Award, 1993-1998.
IBM Faculty Development Award, 1992-1993.
NSF Research Initiation Award, 1990-1992.
IBM Research Initiation Award, 1990.
Schlumberger Fellowship Award, 1988.
Harvard University Graduate Fellowship Award, 1984.
Xian Jiaotong University, “SAN HAO XUE SHENG” medal, 1979-1982.
Xian Jiaotong University Fellowship Award, 1978-1982.
Editorial Activities
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids (co-editor 2006-2015), 2006-present
Special Invited Editor, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA), 2014
Editor, International Journal of Applied Mechanics, 2009-
Regional Editor, International Journal of Fracture, 2004-2014
Editorial Board, National Science Review (a topmost journal in China aimed at reviewing cutting-edge developments across science and technology in China and around the world under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), 2013- present
Advisory Board, Science China Technological Sciences, 2018-
Advisory Board, Computational Materials Science and Engineering, 2012-
Advisory Board, Acta Mechanica Sinica, 2011-
Editorial Board, Acta Metallurgica Sinica, 2003-
Editorial Board, Acta Mechanica, 2014-
Editorial Board, Modeling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 1998-2019
Editorial Board, Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Editorial Board, 2004-
Editorial Board, Journal of Computational & Theoretical Nanoscience, 2004- 2012
Editorial Board, Journal of Nanoengineering and Nanosystems, 2004-2011
Editorial Board, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 2005-2011
Editor-in-Chief, Acta Mechanica Sinica, 2001-2011
Board of Associate Editors, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, 2008-2013
Chief Editor, Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics, 2004-2006
Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 2000-2006
Associate Editor, Communications in Computational Physics, 2006-2007
Acting Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 1997
Society Leadership & Committee Memberships
Member, NTU 2025 Steering Committee (top university committee to track and ensure resourcing and execution of the university’s 5 year strategic plan), Nanyang Technological University, 2020-2022
Member, Engineering Panel, the Research Grants Council (RGC), Hong Kong, 2020-2022
Chair, NRC liaison Committee for Section 10, National Academy of Engineering, 2018-2021
Member, NTU 2025 Task Force, Nanyang Technological University, 2020 Member, NTU Research Council (NTURC), Nanyang Technological University, 2020
Mechanics Engineering Advisory Committee for Curriculum Development and Industrial Liaison, The University of Hong Kong, 2019-2020
Scientific Evaluation Committee of the Helmholtz Society Research Programs in Materials Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 2017
Engineering Executive Committee (representing the Solid Mechanics Faculty Group on all matters related to teaching, research and administration in the Brown School of Engineering), Brown University, 2008-2012, 2013-2014, 2015-2019
Advisory Committee, the State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, 2015-
Academic Committee Chair, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronical Information and Electric Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2014-2017.
Rodney Hill Prize Committee, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2014-2015
US Representative to IUTAM General Assembly, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2014
Journal of Applied Mechanics Paper Award Committee, Chair, 2014
Community and Program Committee, School of Engineering, Brown University, 2014-2016
Faculty Grievance Committee, Brown University, 2014-2017
International Advisory Committee, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nanobionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2013-
Founding co-Director, Center for Advanced Mechanics and Materials, Tsinghua University, 2013-
University Resources Committee (responsible for recommending the annual operating and capital budget of the whole university to the President), Brown University, 2013-2016
Mechanical Engineering Peer Committee (Member 2013, Vice Chair 2014, Chair 2015), National Academy of Engineering, 2013-2015
Committee on Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty, (Member 2013-2014, Chair 2015), 2013-2016.
DOE/BES Review Committee, Materials Science Program, Sandia National Laboratories, 2013
IUTAM Congress Committee, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2012-2016
Director of Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), Brown University, 2012-2014
Founding Associate Director, International Center for Applied Mechanics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 2012-
German Excellence Initiative Evaluation Committee, University of Freiburg, 2012
Applied Mechanics Division Executive Committee, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (Program Chair 2013, Vice Chair 2014, Chair 2015, Past Chair 2016-2020), 2010-2020
Solid Mechanics Faculty Search Committees (Chair 2010), Brown University, 2008-2014
DOE/NNSA PSAAP Review Committee, Center for Prediction of Reliability, Integrity and Survivability of Microsystems (PRISM), Purdue University, 2009
US National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2008-2016
Advisor of Guggenheim Fellowships in Engineering, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, 2008-2012
IUTAM Solids Symposium Committee, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2008-2016
Committee on Diversity and Hiring, Brown University, 2007-2008
University Re-accreditation Steering Committee (preparing the re-accreditation of Brown University with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges), Brown University, 2007-2009
Board of Directors (Member 2004-2009, Vice President 2010, President 2011, Past President 2012), Society of Engineering Science, 2004-2012
DOE/BES Review Committee, Materials Science Program, Sandia National Laboratories, 2006
Senior Advisory Board, Garching Supercomputer Center, Max Planck Society, 2001-2006
International Scientific Advisory Board, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science (SYNL), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2002-2014
Scientific Advisory Board, Failure Mechanics Laboratory, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2002-2012
International Scientific Advisory Board, Laboratory for Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2001-2011
Scientific Advisory Board, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming, 2001-2005
DOE/BES Review Committee, Materials Science Program, Sandia National Laboratories, 2003
DOE/BES Review Committee, Materials Science Program, Los Alamos National Laboratories, 2001
