Dr. Jessica Zhang

Professor

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Biography

Jessica Zhang is the George Tallman Ladd Florence Barrett Ladd Professor and Chair of the Graduate Education Committee in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She holds a B.Eng. in Automotive Engineering, an M.Eng. in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua University, and a Ph.D. in Computational Engineering Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on computational geometry, isogeometric analysis, finite element method, data-driven modeling, image processing, and mesh generation, with applications in computational biomedicine and materials science engineering. With over 240 publications, Zhang has authored a book on geometric modeling and mesh generation. She has received numerous awards, including the ASME Van C. Mow Medal and the AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture Award, and has held prestigious positions such as Simons Visiting Professor at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach in Germany. Zhang is a Fellow of multiple professional societies, including ASME, SIAM, and IACM. She actively contributes to editorial processes, serving as Editor-in-Chief for Engineering Computers.

Research Interests

Experience

Professor

2005-08-01 — Present

Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA

Chair of the Graduate Education Committee, Courtesy Appointment in Biomedical Engineering.

Awards

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ASME Van C. Mow Medal

2025-01-01
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AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture Award

2025-01-01

Requirements for Carnegie Mellon University

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.5
GRE General
Verbal
Required:158
Quantitative
Required:149
Analytical Writing
Required:4
Overall
Required:4
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in Psychology or related field Research experience/publications
Application Checklist
  • Online application
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Transcripts
  • GRE scores (optional but reported in profile)
  • English Proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo)
Specialization Notes

Admission is extremely competitive with no strict GPA cut-offs; holistic review is used.