Julia R. Greer

Julia Rosolovsky Greer is a materials scientist and is the Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics and Medical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). As of 2019, Greer is also the director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.^[1]

Julia R. Greer
Born	Moscow, Russia
Alma mater	MIT (B.S.) Stanford University (M.S., Ph.D.)
Scientific career
Fields	Materials Science Nanomaterials Mechanical Engineering
Institutions	California Institute of Technology

As a pioneer in the field of nanomechanics and architected materials, Greer has earned many awards, such as being named a CNN 2020 Visionary, for her work investigating how materials behave at the nano-scale.^[2][3] Greer has been a professor at Caltech since 2007, and is also an Associate Editor at both Extreme Mechanics Letters and Nano Letters.^[4][5][6]

Early life and education

Greer was born in Moscow, Russia, and moved to the U.S. with her parents at the age of 16.^[7] Greer attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for college, where she received a Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Advanced Music Performance in 1997.^[8][9] Greer then went on to receive graduate degrees in Materials Science and Engineering; she earned a Masters of Science (M.S.) in 2000 and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 2005, both from Stanford University. Between receiving her M.S. and Ph.D., Greer worked at Intel from 2000-2003.^[10] For her dissertation, titled "Size dependence of strength of gold at the micron scale in the absence of strain gradients,"^[11] Greer worked with materials scientist William D. Nix studying the mechanical properties of nanopillars.^[10] After her PhD, Greer pursued postdoctoral studies at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) from 2005-2007.

Research and career

Greer joined the Materials Science Department at Caltech in 2007 as an Assistant Professor; she received tenure and was promoted to Full Professor in 2013.^[12][13] Her research focuses on the application of nanotechnology in biomedical materials, multi-functional devices, energy storage, and material synthesis.

Greer has received much recognition and several career awards for her work. Her lab's early work has resulted in a new direction in nanomechanics.^[10] Her lab is now harnessing strategies in nanofabrication for applications ranging from improving lithium ion batteries to developing biomedical devices.^[14]

Awards and recognition

• 2008 - Technology Review's Top Young Innovators Under 35^[2][15]
• 2010 - Nominee for World Technology Network’s World Technology Award in Materials^[16]
• 2011 - Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award^[17][18]
• 2011 - DOE Early Career Research Program Award^[19][20]
• 2011 - The Materials, Metals, and Minerals Society (TMS) Young Leader Professional Development Award^[21]
• 2012 - Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award^[22][23]
• 2012 - NASA (inaugural) Early Career Faculty Award^[24][25][26]
• 2012 - Invitee to World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos^[13][27]
• 2013 - Society of Engineering Science (SES) Young Investigator Medal^[28]
• 2013 - The Materials, Metals, and Minerals Society (TMS) Early Career Faculty Award^[26]
• 2013 - Discussion Leader at and invitee to World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos^[27]
• 2013 - Speaker at the 2013 China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium^[29]
• 2013 - American Chemical Society (ACS) Nano Letters Young Investigator Award and Lectureship^[30]
• 2014 - Speaker at Google’s Solve for X Conference^[31]
• 2014 - Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF)^[32]
• 2014 - One of “100 Most Creative People” by Fast Company Magazine^[33]
• 2014 - Robert W. Cahn “Best Paper Prize” by Journal of Materials Science (shared with L. Meza)^[34][35]
• 2014 - Kavli Foundation Early Career Lectureship in Materials Science Recipients by the Materials Research Society (MRS)^[36][37]
• 2015 - Speaker at the 2015 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium^[38]
• 2015 - Midwest Mechanics Tour Lecturer^[39]
• 2015 - Gilbreth Lecturer for the National Academy of Engineering^[40]
• 2015 - Technology Review’s Top-10 Emerging Technologies^[41]
• 2016 - CNN's 2020 Visionary^[3]
• 2016 - U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow^[42][43][44]
• 2016 - U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow^[45]
• 2018 - Featured in Caltech's Breakthrough Campaign^[46]
• 2019 - AAAFM Heeger Award^[47]

Personal life

In addition to being a scientist, Greer is also an accomplished pianist. She took piano lessons starting at age 5 and has studied music at several institutions, including Moscow's Gnessin School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, MIT, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Stanford University.^[7]

Greer also loves rollerblading. She will occasionally rollerblade to and from work and has even participated in a rollerblading marathon.^[7]

External media and links

• Lecture given at the 2014 MRS Fall Meeting for receiving the Kavli Early Career Award in Nanoscience: "Three Dimensional Architected Nanostructured Meta-Materials"
• Talk given at TEDxCERN in 2014: "The surprising strengths of materials in the nanoworld"
• Talk given at TEDxManhattanBeach in 2016: "Nanotechnology: When Less is More"
• STEM Gems feature: "Bigger Doesn’t Always Mean Stronger: Julia Greer is Changing the Idea of How Materials Are Made"
• Publications by Julia R. Greer at ResearchGate
• Julia R. Greer publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Lab website

References

1. "Julia Greer Named KNI Director | The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech". kni.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
2. "Innovator Under 35: Julia Greer, 32". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
3. O'Neill, Maggie (2016-03-08). "From carbon dioxide to chemotherapy: These innovators could change the world". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
4. "Caltech Division of Engineering and Applied Science | Julia R. Greer". eas.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
5. "J. R. Greer". www.journals.elsevier.com. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
6. "Editors". pubs.acs.org. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
7. "Rollerblading Through Life". San Marino Tribune. 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
8. "IIN Frontiers in Nanotechnology Seminar Series - Julia Greer | International Institute for Nanotechnology". www.iinano.org. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
9. "Five from MIT Make Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2014". MIT Spectrum. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
10. Gewin, Virginia (2012-12-19). "Turning point: Julia Greer". Nature. 492 (7429): 459. doi:10.1038/nj7429-459a. ISSN 0028-0836.
11. Rosolovsky Greer, Julia (2005). Size dependence of strength of gold at the micron scale in the absence of strain gradients. Bibcode:2005PhDT........94G. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
12. "Caltech Materials Science | Julia R. Greer". ms.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
13. "Julia Greer". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
14. Espy, Stephanie. "Bigger Doesn't Always Mean Stronger: Julia Greer is Changing the Idea of How Materials Are Made". STEM Gems. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
15. "World's Top Innovators Under The Age Of 35 | The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech". www.kni.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
16. "The World Technology Summit 2010". www.wtn.net. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
17. "Caltech Mechanical and Civil Engineering | News | Professor Greer Receives Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award". www.mce.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
18. "Caltech Division of Engineering and Applied Science | News | Professor Greer Receives Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award". eas.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
19. "Fiscal Year 2011 Award Abstracts" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-03-04.
20. "Professor Greer Receives DOE Early Career Research Award". ms.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
21. "The Young Leader Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 1" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-03-04.
22. "2012 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough awardees announced". phys.org. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
23. "Caltech Faculty Members Honored by Popular Mechanics". www.caltech.edu. October 2012. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
24. Hall, Loura (2016-09-22). "Early Career Faculty". NASA. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
25. "NASA - Development of Lightweight, Radiation- and Damage-Tolerant Micro-trusses". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
26. "Julia Greer Receives NASA Research Grant and Early Career Awards". www.caltech.edu. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
27. "World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013" (PDF).
28. "Honors & Awards - Young Investigator Medal". Young Investigator Medal - Society of Engineering Science. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
29. "2013 China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium". www.naefrontiers.org. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
30. "The Nano Letters Young Investigator Lectureship Award | The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech". www.kni.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
31. Griffith, Eric (February 18, 2014). "5 Moonshot Projects Just Crazy Enough to Work". PCMag. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
32. "Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering at Caltech | News | Professor Greer Named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum". www.mede.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
33. Gertner, Jon (2014-05-12). "Julia Greer". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
34. "About the 2014 Journal of Materials Science Robert W. Cahn Best Paper Prize". springer.com. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
35. "Caltech Materials Science | News | Professor Greer Receives Robert W. Cahn Best Paper Prize". ms.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
36. "2014 MRS Fall Meeting Speaker | The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech". www.kni.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
37. "The Kavli Foundation Early Career Lectureship in Materials Science". www.mrs.org. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
38. "2015 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium". Retrieved 2019-03-06.
39. "2014-15 Seminar Archives — Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering". ame.nd.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
40. "Armstrong Endowment for Young Engineers - Gilbreth Lectures". NAE Website. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
41. "Technology Spotlight: Materials - MIT Technology Review". MIT Technology Review Events. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
42. "Two Named as National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows". www.caltech.edu. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
43. "Pentagon Officials Select 2016 National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows". Executive Gov. 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
44. "DoD Announces National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
45. "2016 Vannevar Bush Fellows". basicresearch.defense.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
46. "Julia Greer Featured in Caltech's Break Through Campaign | The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech". kni.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
47. "AAAFM-Nakamura & Heeger Award Winner Announced". AAAFM. Retrieved 2023-02-02.