ABOUT ME

Hi! I'm Zhao Qin, and I am obsessed in material innovations
​I graduated from the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Tsinghua University with Bachelor and Master Degrees in 2006 and 2008, respectively. I then went to MIT and received my PhD degree from Civil and Environmental Engineering department in 2012. After that I worked as a postdoc associate and teaching fellow. I have been working as a research scientist in the same department since 2013.

My study focuses on material by design which generally covers advanced mechanical properties of nano and biological materials. By revealing how the chemical structures relate to mechanical and biological functions of biological materials via multiscale computational modeling, I design functional materials accordingly for engineering applications. Besides computational modeling, I have strong interest in developing methods and machines for additive manufacturing of materials with complex architectures and advanced mechanical functions.

​I am also enthusiasm in teaching project-oriented class for undergraduate students and has actively worked toward involving K-12 students in research activities.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Mass. Ave. Room 1-239, Cambridge, MA, 02139

Telephone: (617) 324-1706
Email: qinzhao_at_mit.edu
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5696-8553
Googlescholar
Researchgate
​
Education:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Research Scientist, till now
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Postdoctoral Associate, 2013
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ph.D. in the field of Structures and Materials, 2013
Tsinghua University, Engineering Mechanics, M.Eng., 2008
Tsinghua University, Engineering Mechanics, B. Eng., 2006

Selected Publications: (90+ peer reviewed articles, 1800+ citations, h-index=25 by google scholar and Orcid)
  • Zhao Qin, Markus J. Buehler (2007). Superior flexibility of super carbon nanotubes: Molecular dynamics simulations, Applied Physics Letters, 91(4), paper #: 043108.
  • Zhao Qin, Markus J. Buehler (2010). Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the alpha-Helix to beta-Sheet Transition in Coiled Protein Filaments: Evidence for a Critical Filament Length Scale, Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104(19), paper #: 198304
  • Zhao Qin, and Markus J. Buehler (2013), Impact tolerance in mussel thread networks by heterogeneous material distribution, Nature Communications, Vol 4, paper #: 2187
  • Zhao Qin, and Markus J. Buehler (2014), Molecular mechanics of mussel adhesion proteins, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Vol 62, pp. 19-30
  • Zhao Qin, Brett Compton, Jennifer A. Lewis and Markus J. Buehler (2015), Structural optimization of 3D-printed synthetic spider webs for high strength, Nature Communications, Vol 6, paper #: 7038
  • Zhao Qin, Gang Seob Jung, Min Jeong Kang, Markus J. Buehler (2017), The mechanics and design of light-weight three-dimensional graphene assembly, Science Advances, Vol 3, paper #: e1601536

Teaching and Mentoring:
Teaching in Class
Spring 2018, Class 1.102 “Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering Design II”, with Admir Masic
Spring 2017, Class 1.102 “Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering Design II”. with Admir Masic
Spring 2013, Class 3.021J/1.021J/10.333J/18.361J/22.00J “Introduction to Modeling and Simulation”, with Markus Buehler and Jeff Grossman

As mentor of undergraduate/K-12 students
Summer 2016, Research Mentor for K-12 students (middle school) Luke Pautler, Elizabeth Jennings, Tim Swain, Nicolas Moy and their teacher Douglas Shattuck on the project of complex web construction: a possible clue to mechanical properties.
Spring 2016, Co-advisor for MIT CEE Master of Engineering student, Min Jeong Kang, on the Master thesis of High Performance Curtain Wall Mullion Section Design with Various Densities of Gyroid.
Summer 2016, Research Mentor for Research Scholar Institute (RSI) for K-12 students, mentoring the high school student Phillip Yu on the project of spider web mechanics.
Fall 2015, Research Mentor for MIT UROP freshman student Jacob J Higgins on the project of automatic 3D scanning of 3D spider web.
Summer 2015, Research Mentor for MIT UROP student Shruti Sharma and Jamie L Voros on the project of 3D printing of hydroxyapatite.
Summer 2015, Research Mentor for high school student Ersin Arioglu on the project of silk mechanics under ultralow temperature.
Summer 2015, Research Mentor for Research Scholar Institute (RSI) for K-12 students, mentoring the high school student Kristine Zhang, who won the top 10 prize (out of 70) on the project of MoS2 mechanics.
Spring 2015, Research Mentor for senior student CAPSTONE project of Santé Nyambo, Yvonne Wangare and Billy Ndengeyingoma on the project of 3D spider web scanning.
Summer 2014, Research Mentor for RSI mentoring the high school student Phillip Yu, on the project of spider web modeling and Berfin Gögercin on the project of water filtering.
Spring 2014, Research Mentor for MIT CEE Master of Engineering student, Bogdan Demian on the project of 3D spider web modeling.
Spring 2014, Research Mentor for MIT UROP student Mary Hwang from Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) on the project of graphene wrinkling.
Summer 2011, Research Mentor for Research Scholar Institute (RSI) for K-12 students, mentoring the 3rd year high school student Hadass Inbar, who won the top 10 prize (out of 70), on the project of collagen/hydroxyapatite modeling.
2010-2011, Research Mentor for MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) sophomore undergraduate student Andrea Fabre from Bio-Chemical Engineering, on the project of alpha helix stability.

FULL CV