Jian Cao is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, holding courtesy appointments in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, and Materials Science and Engineering. She currently serves as Associate Vice President for Research, overseeing University Research Centers and Institutes and the Office for Research Development, and as founding Director of the Northwestern Initiative for Manufacturing Science and Innovation (NIMSI). Cao received her B.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering and Automatic Control from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1989, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1992, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1995. She joined Northwestern as Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 1995, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and Professor in 2008, and appointed to the Cardiss Collins Chair in 2016. Her career includes industrial training at General Motors from 1995 to 1996, service as Program Director for Materials Processing and Manufacturing at the National Science Foundation from 2003 to 2005, Directorship of Graduate Studies in Mechanical Engineering from 2007 to 2012, and prior term as Associate Vice President for Research from 2012 to 2021.

Professor Cao’s research centers on innovative manufacturing processes and systems, with emphasis on deformation-based processes, laser additive and subtractive manufacturing, characterization of material behavior under manufacturing conditions, and integration of numerical simulations, machine learning, sensors, and design methodologies to enhance process performance and part properties. Her laboratory has pioneered equipment for dieless sheet forming, microforming, and additive manufacturing, contributing to advancements in energy-efficient manufacturing, surface engineering, and distributed production. She has published over 500 technical articles, including approximately 300 journal papers, 10 book chapters, and 20 patents. Key works include “Opportunities and Challenges in Metal Forming for Lightweighting: Review and Future Work” (Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 2020) and “Towards Bi-metallic Injection Molds by Directed Energy Deposition” (Manufacturing Letters, 2021). Cao’s contributions are recognized by election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022 and American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2023, the SME Gold Medal and ASME Milton C. Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal in 2020, DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship in 2019, and fellowships in AAAS, ASME, CIRP, and SME. She has delivered over 180 invited talks, chairs committees for ASME and CIRP, and leads research thrusts for the NSF Engineering Research Center on Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing (HAMMER).

Professional Email: jcao@northwestern.edu