Society of Engineering Science honors Zhang with 2026 Young Investigator Medal

The Society of Engineering Science (SES) has announced Associate Professor and David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar Shelly Zhang is the recipient of the 2026 Huajian Gao Young Investigator Medal.

The medal is awarded to a promising early-career researcher whose work has already had an impact in his/her field within the engineering sciences and includes an award of $1000. In 2024, the SES Young Investigator Medal was renamed the Huajian Gao Young Investigator Medal. 

Zhang's award citation reads as follows:

"For exceptional contributions to integrating topology optimization, mechanics, and fabrication strategies to design novel materials and structures with extreme nonlinearity and superior programmability, enabling advances in soft robotics, biomedical devices, thermal management, and resilient infrastructure."

Zhang was recently honored with the 2025 Haftka Young Investigator Award, receiving it on May 22, during ISSMO's 2025 World Congress on Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization(WCSMO) General Assembly in Kobe, Japan.  In the last year, Zhang has also been awarded the Henry Hess Early Career Publication Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) and the 2025 ASME Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award  for special achievements in applied mechanics.

In addition to the recent honors, she has received additional recognition as an outstanding young investigator including the EMI Leonardo da Vinci Award from the Engineering Mechanics Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers for engineers early in their careers who have made promising ground-breaking developments in the field of Engineering Mechanics and Mechanical Sciences. She again received recognition for her research and as a top performer in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award (YFA) pool, receiving the selective (DARPA) Director's Fellowship Award. 

Joining the CEE faculty in 2018, Zhang is also an alumna of CEE at Illinois (BS '12, MS '14) and is affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Her research interests are in the general areas of topology optimization, stochastic programming, machine learning, multi-scale metamaterials, additive manufacturing and 3D/4D printing. She directs the MISSION Laboratory (MultI-functional Structures and Systems desIgn OptimizatioN), which focuses on exploring topology optimization, stochastic programming, and additive manufacturing to develop multi-functional, resilient, sustainable, and innovative engineering infrastructure and materials for applications at different scales, from as large as high-rise buildings to as small as material microstructures.

The 2026 SES Medalists and Fellows will be recognized at the banquet during the 2026 SES Annual Meeting to be held at Purdue University in West Lafayette on Oct 11-14, 2026.