The Grainger College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

X. Shelly Zhang

X. Shelly Zhang
X. Shelly Zhang
  • David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar
  • Office of Risk Management & Insurance Research (ORMIR) Faculty Scholar
  • Assistant Professor
(217) 300-1815
3108 Newmark Civil Engineering Bldg

Primary Research Area

  • Structural Engineering

Research Areas

For More Information

Biography

Dr. Xiaojia Shelly Zhang is a David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar and Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also holds affiliate appointments at the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Dr. Zhang directs the MISSION (MuIti-functional Structures and Systems desIgn OptimizatioN) Laboratory. She holds a B.S. (Honors) degree in Civil Engineering (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), an M.S. degree in Structural Engineering (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign) with Computational Science and Engineering Diploma, and a Ph.D. degree in Structural Engineering (Georgia Tech). 

Dr. Zhang received both the department-level (2018) and institution-level (2019) Best Ph.D. Thesis Awards and a faculty fellowship from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in 2019. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics Award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA), the AFOSR Young Investigator (YIP) Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research, the DARPA Director's Fellowship, Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, Dean’s Award for Early Innovation, the DARPA Director's Fellowship, the ASCE EMI Leonardo da Vinci Award, the ASME Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, UIUC Campus Distinguished Promotion Award, the ASME Henry Hess Early Career Publication Award, the Haftka Young Investigator Award from International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSMO).

Dr. Zhang serves on the Executive Committee of the International Society of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSMO) and is a Review Editor for the Journal of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Mechanics. Her research interests are in the general areas of topology optimization, additive manufacturing, data-driven models, multi-scale materials and structures, 3D/4D printing, and uncertainty quantification. Her research group focuses on exploring multi-physics topology optimization, stochastic and machine learning algorithms, and additive manufacturing to develop multi-functional, sustainable, and innovative civil structures, robots, and metamaterials for applications at different scales, from as large as high-rise buildings to as small as material microstructures. Her research has been supported by NSF, DARPA, AFOSR, and ARO.

Education

  • Ph.D., Structural Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. December 2018
  • M.S., Structural Engineering, Computational Science and Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. May 2014
  • B.S., Civil Engineering (with honors), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. May 2012

Academic Positions

  • David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2023 - present
  • Faculty Scholar, Office of Risk Management & Insurance Research (ORMIR), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2022 - 2023
  • Faculty Affiliate (0%), Computational Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020 - present
  • Faculty Fellow (0%), National Center of Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2019 - present
  • Faculty Affiliate (0%), Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2019 - present
  • Assistant Professor (100%), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2019 - present

Journal Editorships

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 2024-present
  • Review Editor, Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (Flagship journal of Society of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization), 2021-present
  • Guest Editor, Journal of Engineering Structures. Special Issue: Additively manufactured structures. 2022 - present
  • Early Career Editorial Board Member, Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering, 2021-present
  • Guest Editor, Extreme Mechanics Letter (Impact factor: 4.806), 2021-present
  • Editor, ISSMO Newsletter, initiated and created a societal Newsletter series for the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSMO, the most prominent and influential society of PI's research field) during the pandemic to enable a healthy and supportive environment for researchers and students from diverse backgrounds to stay connected. 2020-2023

Professional Societies

  • Executive Committee, International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSMO, the most prominent and influential society of PI's research field), 2023-present.
  • Chair, USACM (U. S. Association for Computational Mechanics), Technical Thrust Area (TTA) on Large Scale Structural Systems and Optimal Design, 2023-present.
  • Member-At-Large, USACM TTA on Multi-Scale, Multi-functional Materials and Structures, 2025-present.
  • Event Officer, Female Researchers Group (FRG) of U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM), 2020-present
  • Vice-Chair, USACM (U. S. Association for Computational Mechanics), Technical Thrust Area (TTA) on Large Scale Structural Systems and Optimal Design, 2021-2023
  • Honor Member, Chi Epsilon – National Civil Engineering Honor Society, 2021-present

Service on College Committees

  • Team lead, UIUC-Carle Health Covid PPE project: led the design team for the N95 mask and face shield PPE project, 2020

Research Interests

  • Design optimize, simulate, and fabrication of multifunctional, resilient, and intelligent engineering structures and materials
  • Soft active materials with programmable behaviors
  • Tough and damage-resilient materials and structures
  • Topology optimization informed civil structures innovations
  • Multi-scale lattice design for resilient and lightweight metamaterials and structures
  • Bridging topology optimization and additive manufacturing
  • Robust design optimization under uncertainty through stochastic programming
  • Theoretical and algorithmic development of topology optimization to handle multi-objective and multi-constraints

Primary Research Area

  • Structural Engineering

Research Areas

Selected Articles in Journals

Invited Lectures

  • Invited Plenary State-Of-The-Art talk: Optimization of complex structures and systems
  • ASME CONCAM distinguished lecture on computational mechanics: Programmable soft metastructures via multi-material topology optimization
  • Invited keynote lecture: Topology optimization of hyperelastic structures with anisotropic fiber reinforcement under large deformations
  • Invited webinar: Adaptive multi-material topology optimization with hyperelastic materials under large deformations: A virtual element approach
  • Invited panel: An Introduction to Systems Engineering and What it Means to Structural Engineers
  • Invited lecture: Leveraging Materials in Topology Optimization -Design of Composite Materials with Multi-material Topology Optimization with Many Constraints
  • Invited keynote: Adaptive multi-material topology optimization with many constraints: A novel approach with material and geometric nonlinearities.
  • Multi-material, multi-constraint, and multi-objective topology optimization: from structural to multidisciplinary engineering
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases
  • Achieving Structural Innovation and Resilience through Topology Optimization with Many Objectives, Many Constraints, and Many Materials
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases
  • A Primer on Michell's Optimality Conditions
  • Topology Optimization with Multiple Materials, Multiple Constraints, and Multiple Load Cases

Magazine Articles

Teaching Honors

  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2024)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2023)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2023)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2022)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2021)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2021)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Summer 2020)
  • UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2020)
  • ASCE Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Fellowship (2019)

Research Honors

  • Haftka Young Investigator Award, International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSMO)
  • Campus Distinguished Promotion Award (2025)
  • Henry Hess Early Career Publication Award, ASME (American Society of Civil Engineers) (2025)
  • Dean's Award for Early Innovation (2025)
  • Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, ASME (American Society of Civil Engineers) (2025 )
  • EMI Leonardo da Vinci Award, ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) (2024 )
  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Director's Fellowship (2024 )
  • Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (2023-2024)
  • David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar (2023 )
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award (2023 )
  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) (2022 )
  • Journal of Applied Mechanics Award, ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) (2022 )
  • Faculty Scholar, Office of Risk Management & Insurance Research (ORMIR) (2022)
  • National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award (2021 )
  • Fellow, National Science Foundation (NSF) CMMI's Game Changer Academies (2021)
  • Elected to be an Honor Member, Chi Epsilon - National Civil Engineering Honor Society (2021)
  • National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Faculty Fellowship (2019)
  • Institution-wide Best Ph.D. Thesis of entire Georgia Tech, Sigma Xi Honor Society, Georgia Tech Chapter (2019)
  • Department-wide Best Ph.D. Thesis, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech (2018)
  • Third Place in Siemens FutureMakers Challenge, Siemens Corporation (2018)
  • The Most Downloaded Journal Article in Springer (2017)