Dr. Xiaosheng Gao joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Akron as an Assistant Professor in January 2001 from a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research in March 2002.

Dr. Gao’s research is in the field of solid mechanics with emphasis on computational modeling of deformation and failure process in structural materials. Most, if not all, engineering structures contain microscopic defects or crack-like flaws arising from the manufacture and operation processes. They must continue to operate safely while sustaining these defects and damages. Therefore, quantitative characterization of damage tolerance plays a key role in risk assessments and in evaluation of new designs of structural components. Dr. Gao’s research in recent years has been focused on development of mechanism-based models to simulate material failure process and to predict fracture of structural components. This research bridges the macroscopic continuum mechanics and the microscopic aspects of material science. The results provide guidelines for safer and more economic design and operation of high-performance of engineering structures.

Dr. Gao has published 16 papers in refereed international journals. His recent paper, A Weibull Stress Model to Predict Cleavage Fracture in Plates Containing Surface Cracks (by X. Gao, R.H. Dodds, R.L. Tregoning, J.A. Joyce and R.E. Link), was selected as one of three finalists for best paper in fracture of year 1999 in the journal Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures. His research has also been presented over 20 times at international conferences and workshops.

Dr. Gao received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and M.S. degree in solid mechanics in 1987 and 1990 respectively from Xi'an Jiaotong University (China). In the fall of 1992, after working as an Assistant Professor at Northwestern Polytechnic University in China for two years, he received a Research Fellowship from Brown University and came to the United States. He obtained his M.S. degree in applied mathematics and Ph.D. degree in solid Mechanics from Brown University in 1995 and 1998 respectively. In November 1996, he received a scholarship from the Department of Solid Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden). He was a visiting scholar at the Royal Institute of Technology from November 1996 to May 1997.