Jian Cao

Associate Professor

Phone: (847) 467-1032
Fax: (847) 491-3915
E-mail: jcao@northwestern.edu

Web Page:

http://www.mech.northwestern.edu/fac/cao/

Professor Jian Cao has been with Northwestern University since she received her Ph.D. degree in solid mechanics from M.I.T. in 1995. She received her M.S. degree from M.I.T. in 1992 and the dual B.S. degrees in Materials Engineering and Automatic Control from Shanghai JiaoTong University in 1985. She is now an associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. During her tenure at Northwestern, she took a one-year leave at General Motors in FY1996 and a two-year leave at the National Science Foundation in FY2004 and 2005 as a program director. Prof. Cao's primary interests are in the mechanics analysis and design of macro/micro metal forming and composite sheet forming processes. Her research contributions in understanding of material instability in the deformation process have advanced the predictability of numerical simulations and been implemented in companies’ engineering practice. Her research also includes the creation of intelligent process design algorithms considering process variations and utilizing real-time sensors; the development of efficient simulation tools; and more recently the studies of the size effect in material deformation and friction behavior in microforming processes and micro-texturing the surfaces.

Professor Cao has approached her research in manufacturing based on solid mechanics and combined with intelligent control. The overarching link has earned her many honors and awards. Prof. Cao is a recipient of the General Electric Foundation Professorship, ALCOA Foundation Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER award, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, the Young Investigator Award from the Japan-US Flexible Automation, and most recently the Young Investigator Award from the ASME Applied Mechanics Division.

Prof. Cao is a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She is an associate editor for the ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering and the ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics. She is a member of the executive committee of ASME Manufacturing Engineering Division, an executive board member of SME North America Manufacturing Research Institute, a member of the Scientific Board of European Scientific Association for Material Forming, and a co-director of the NSF Summer Institute on Nanomechanics, Nanomaterials and Micro/Nanomanufacturing.