Grace Gu, a UC Berkeley assistant professor and the recipient of a 2021 CITRIS Seed Award, has been described by the journal Nature as a “game-changing” materials science researcher, lauded for bringing a fresh perspective to solving big challenges in the field.
Gu takes inspiration from the mathematical world to design composite materials that are tough, adaptable and cost-effective. Her recent endeavors include designing materials based on aperiodic monotiles, or nonrepeating surface patterns, that can withstand stress and deformation better than conventional tile structures and using machine learning to identify new materials properties at a much faster rate.