Huajian Gao

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Huajian Gao is an American materials scientist and engineer. He joined the Max Planck Society in 2001 and is currently (2005) Director of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart.

Huajian Gao received his B.S. degree from Xi'an 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 joined the Max Planck Society in 2001 as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany. At present he is Professor at the Brown University, Division of Engineering.

Professor Gao has a background in engineering science and applied mechanics. His research interests in the past covered stress and diffusion processes in various thin films systems, size-dependent plastic deformation at micrometre and submicrometre length scales and dynamic fracture in brittle solids. Since joining the Max Planck Society, he has shifted the main focus of his research toward nanomechanics of biological systems. He has nearly 20 years of research experience with more than 150 publications. He has broad collaborations with scientists in the United States, Europe and China.

Professor Gao is a recipient of numerous academic awards including the ASME Best Achievement Award for Young Investigators in Applied Mechanics, the Humboldt Research Fellowship Award, the Presidential Young Investigator Award, the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the IBM Faculty Development Award, and the Alcoa Science Award. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has close contacts with Chinese scientists and was recently awarded the Chang Jiang Guest Chair Professorship in Tsinghua University and the Outstanding Oversea Young Investigator Award by the Ministry of Education of China.