Biography

Dean of the College of Engineering at University of Connecticut. Previously Department Chair of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland (2019–2024) and professor at The Ohio State University for a decade. From 2014 to 2017 he served as a Program Director at the U.S. Department of Energy, launching and managing projects to develop technologies for increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to academia he was a materials scientist at GE Research Center for 12 years. Zhao's research focuses on design of advanced alloys and coatings, additive manufacturing, hydrogen storage materials, and computational materials science. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2023 and is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.