Ruike Renee Zhao

Ruike (Renee) Zhao is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, where she directs the Soft Intelligent Materials Laboratory. Her research focuses on the design and fabrication of stimuli-responsive soft composites for multifunctional robotic systems that can change shape, assemble, navigate, and sense their environment. Integrating solid mechanics, materials science, and advanced manufacturing, Zhao’s work enables new capabilities in soft robotics, miniaturized medical devices, robotic surgery tools, active metamaterials, and deployable morphing structures. Before joining Stanford, she was an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University and completed postdoctoral research at MIT. She received her PhD and MS in Solid Mechanics from Brown University and her BS from Xi’an Jiaotong University. Zhao has received numerous honors, including the PECASE, DARPA YFA, ARO ECP, AFOSR YIP, the Eshelby Mechanics Award, the ASME Henry Hess Award, the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal, and the NSF CAREER Award. Her research continues to expand the frontiers of intelligent materials and soft robotic actuation.