Rate My Professor Yu Zhang

Yu Zhang, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Preventive and Restorative Sciences and Director of Restorative Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He earned a B.S. in Physics from Shanghai Normal University in 1986, an M.S. in Physics from La Trobe University in 1997, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Monash University in 2002. Following his doctorate, he completed a research fellowship at Monash University and then served as a Guest Scientist in the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 2005 to 2006. Dr. Zhang joined New York University College of Dentistry in 2005 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomaterials and Biomimetics, advancing to Associate Professor in 2011, Associate Professor with tenure in 2013, and Professor with tenure in 2018. In July 2020, he joined Penn Dental Medicine as Professor to strengthen research in restorative dentistry and dental biomaterials.

Dr. Zhang's research focuses on developing functionally graded and nanostructured materials for dental and biomedical devices, elucidating competing damage modes in all-ceramic restorations under mastication, characterizing wear and fatigue behavior of dental materials, and improving fracture resistance of veneered prostheses by reducing residual tensile stresses. His highly cited publications include "Novel zirconia materials in dentistry" (Journal of Dental Research, 2018), "Making yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia translucent" (Dental Materials, 2014), "Effect of sandblasting on the long‐term performance of dental ceramics" (Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, 2004), "Performance of Dental Ceramics: Challenges for Improvements" (Journal of Dental Research, 2011), and "Characterization of a polymer-infiltrated ceramic-network material" (Dental Materials, 2014). He received the 2025 IADR Distinguished Scientist Wilmer Souder Award for leadership in dental ceramics research, particularly zirconia; the Arthur R. Frechette Award (2007); the Kathleen C. Kinnally Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement (2018); election as Fellow of the American Association for Dental Research (2017) and Academy of Dental Materials (2018); and the Outstanding Teacher Award from New York University College of Dentistry Faculty Council (2015). Dr. Zhang has held editorial roles as Associate Editor of The International Journal of Prosthodontics (2019–present), editorial board member of Journal of Dental Research (2017–2023), and President of the Dental Materials Group of the International Association for Dental Research (2018–2019). His contributions have advanced esthetics, bonding, durability, and clinical performance of zirconia-based dental restorations.