Ruike Renee Zhao, Sc.M. ‘14, Ph.D. ‘16, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering at Stanford University, has been selected to receive the 2022 Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty. The award is given annually to emerging junior faculty who exemplify the creative use and development of mechanics. It includes a $1,500 cash prize and a commemorative plaque and will be formally presented at the 2023 Applied Mechanics Division banquet at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers-International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (ASME-IMECE) meeting.
Zhao directs the Soft Intelligent Materials Laboratory at Stanford. She received her bachelor degree from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2012, before her master’s and doctoral degrees from Brown in 2014 and 2016, respectively. She was a postdoc associate at MIT during 2016-2018 prior to her appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University from 2018 to 2021.
Zhao’s research concerns the development of stimuli-responsive soft composites for multifunctional robotic systems with integrated shape-changing, assembling, sensing, and navigation. By combining mechanics, polymer engineering, and advanced material manufacturing techniques, the functional soft composites enable applications in soft robotics, miniaturized biomedical devices, flexible electronics, and deployable and morphing structures. She is a recipient of the 2023 AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award, 2022 ASME Henry Hess Early Career Publication Award, 2022 ASME Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal, 2021 ASME Applied Mechanics Division Journal of Applied Mechanics Award, 2020 NSF Career Award, and 2018 ASME Applied Mechanics Division Haythornthwaite Research Initiation Award.
The Eshelby Mechanics Award, established in 2012, intends to promote the field of mechanics, especially among young researchers. It commemorates the memory of Professor John Douglas Eshelby, with the ideal awardee demonstrating clear inspiration from mechanics in their research. The selection committee consists of five editors or editorial board members of mechanics journals. Brown Associate Professor David Henann received the 2020 award.