Grants per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Professor Cao’s major research interests include innovative manufacturing processes and systems, particularly in the areas of deformation-based processes and laser processes. Her work has made fundamental contributions to the characterization of the effects of material structure on forming behavior of metals and woven composites. Her research has integrated analytical and numerical simulation methods, control and sensors, design methodologies to advance manufacturing processes. Professor Cao’s research group has designed unique manufacturing equipment for microforming, dieless sheet forming, and additive manufacturing. Current research has direct impacts on energy-efficient manufacturing, surface engineering, and distributed manufacturing.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Mechanical Engineering, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
… → 1995
Mechanical Engineering, MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
… → 1992
Materials Science and Engineering & Automatic Control, BS, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
… → 1989
Research interests keywords
- Composite sheet forming
- Energy efficient manufacturing processes
- Instability analysis
- Laser processes
- Micro-forming
- Microforming
- Sheet metal forming
- Solid mechanics
- Surface texturing
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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Integrated Approach of Advanced Manufacturing for Enhancing Power Density in Army Aviation and Propulsion Systems
Cao, J. (PD/PI)
1/30/25 → 1/29/28
Project: Research project
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Center: NSF Engineering Research Center for Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity (HAND)
Colgate, E. (PD/PI), Cao, J. (Other), Elwin, M. (Other), Gerber, E. M. (Other), Lynch, K. M. (Other), Murphey, T. D. (Other), Truby, R. L. (Other) & argall, B. D. (Other)
9/1/24 → 8/31/29
Project: Research project
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Mechanical Engineering
Cao, J. (Co-Investigator) & Cao, J. (Co-Investigator)
7/1/24 → 6/30/29
Project: Research project
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APTO: Measuring, Understanding, Predicting, and Accelerating Technology Outcomes
Wang, D. (PD/PI), Cao, J. (Co-PD/PI), Cao, J. (Co-PD/PI), Cao, J. (Co-PD/PI), Jones, B. (Co-PD/PI), Dunn, J. B. (Other), Dunn, J. B. (Other), Dunn, J. B. (Other), Eskreis-Winkler, L. (Other), Hersam, M. (Other), Hersam, M. (Other), Hersam, M. (Other), Lucks, J. B. (Other), Lucks, J. B. (Other), Lucks, J. B. (Other), Sangwan, V. K. (Other), Tullman-Ercek, D. (Other), Tullman-Ercek, D. (Other) & Tullman-Ercek, D. (Other)
7/1/24 → 6/30/29
Project: Research project
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Main award RADICAL: Rapid Array DImplebased Co-design of gradient materiaL and geometry
Cao, J. (PD/PI) & Cao, J. (PD/PI)
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
4/17/24 → 4/16/27
Project: Research project
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Acceleration of powder-bed-size thermal simulation considering scanning-path-scale through a pseudo-layer-wise equivalent heat flux model
Chen, F., Kozjek, D., Porter, C. & Cao, J., Jan 31 2025, In: Journal of Manufacturing Processes. 134, p. 394-409 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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AI-enabled manufacturing process discovery
Quispe, D., Kozjek, D., Mozaffar, M., Xue, T. & Cao, J., Feb 1 2025, In: PNAS Nexus. 4, 2, pgaf054.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Effect of closed-loop coaxial melt pool temperature control on thermal history and microstructure of nickel alloy 718 in directed energy deposition
Webster, S., Jeong, J., Mogonye, J. E., Zuback, J., Liao, S., Rocher, J., Ehmann, K. & Cao, J., Mar 2025, In: Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 337, 118725.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Efficient GPU-computing simulation platform JAX-CPFEM for differentiable crystal plasticity finite element method
Hu, F., Niezgoda, S., Xue, T. & Cao, J., Dec 2025, In: npj Computational Materials. 11, 1, 46.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Mold liners produced by incremental sheet forming
Kang, P., Wadman, B., Ehmann, K. & Cao, J., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: CIRP Annals.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Datasets
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JAX-FEM: A differentiable GPU-accelerated 3D finite element solver for automatic inverse design and mechanistic data science
Xue, T. (Contributor), Liao, S. (Contributor), Gan, Z. (Contributor), Park, C. (Contributor), Xie, X. (Contributor), Liu, W. K. (Contributor) & Cao, J. (Contributor), Mendeley Data, Jun 12 2023
DOI: 10.17632/hgwshjbcw6.1, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/hgwshjbcw6
Dataset