Home Page of Professor Q. Jane Wang

https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/magazine/fall-2023/smoothing-the-future/

Q. Jane Wang received her B.S. degree from Xian University of Technology, China, in 1982, M.S. from Northern Illinois University in 1989, and Ph. D from Northwestern University, in 1993, all in mechanical engineering. She taught for five years  (2/1982-9/1987) as a teacher at Xian University of Technology and five years (8/1993-8/1998) at Florida International University as an Assistant Professor (promotion and tenure in 1998). Then she moved to Northwestern University in 1998 as an Associate Professor and is now the Joseph Cummings Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. She is the Executive Director of Center for Surface Engineering and Tribology at Northwester since 2007; she was the Director of Graduate Studies Committee of Northwestern’s Mechanical Engineering (2003-07).  She proposed the concept of virtual tribology in 2001 at the 6^th US National Congress on Computational Mechanics and conceived the theme of virtual tribology systems for NU’s NSF-IGERT program (2001-2007). Her research is mainly on the backbone of virtual tribology, computational mechanotribology of engineering systems, tribology of advanced materials, and novel lubricants, including 1) FFT-based methods for contact mechanics and frictional heat transfer of rough surfaces of engineering materials, enabling fast simulation of solid asperity interaction in macroscopic contact and frictional heating; 2) theories of and methods for contact micromechanics, 3) method to solve multi-asperity fluid-solid interaction for lubricant flow through the interface with interactive roughness asperities;  4) science and numerical simulations of tribological interfaces and transition; 5) model-based designs of machine elements and their surfaces, interface failure mechanisms and failure prevention methods; 6) multifunctional lubricants and lubrication technologies; 7) FFT-based rough surface chemoelectro-mechanics and method for all-solid-state batteries, anode-electrolyte interface evolution; and 8) industrial applications of models, designs, and novel lubricants for energy efficiency, durability and reliability.  Her group has also developed multifield contact theories and a cross-field analogy methodology in recent years.

She has supervised 68 Ph. D students and postdoctoral researchers (including 9 women and 2 from underrepresented groups), 19 MS students (including 3 women and 2 from underrepresented groups), and co-supervised a number of graduate students. She and co-workers have published one technical book, one encyclopedia book series, one special issue, one conference proceeding, 282 journal papers and articles, and 26 invention patents (issued or in process). She has delivered more than 120 invited talks, seminars, and presentations.

Professor Wang’s research has been funded by federal agencies, such as AFOSR, ARL, Army TACOM, DOE, NIST, NSF, ONR, and a number of US industries, such as Ashland Chemicals, Baker Hughes, Boeing, Cabot, Caterpillar, Dow Corning, Eaton, Ford, GE, Good Year, GM, Questech, Timken, TimkenSteel, and Valvoline, as well as several international companies and foundations, such as Fricso, Mazda, Nissan, NSK, Qatar National Research Foundation, TTRF and Taiho Kogyo, completed more than 80 research projects with the total funding of more than $24 millions (about $10 million her share) excluding CSET funds. 

Professor Wang is active in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE).  She was the Chair of the 2008 STLE Annual Meeting Committee, Chair of the 2011 ASME/STLE International Joint Tribology Conference, and Chair of the STLE Fellows Committee in 2011-2012.  She was a Chief Editor of the six-volume Encyclopedia of Tribology, published by Springer, which has been downloaded more than 635K times and cited at least 825 times (Publisher’s website: https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-0-387-92897-5), one of the top science-engineering reference book series, an Associate Editor for Advances in Tribology, ASME Journal of Tribology, STLE Tribology Transactions, and Friction. She is on the Editorial Board of Journal of Micromechanics and Molecular Physics and was on the Editorial Board of Tribology – Materials, Surfaces and Interfaces and Advances in Tribology.

 Professor Wang challenges her students to strive for excellence. More than 75% of her graduate students won at least one competitive award during their time at Northwestern. She encouraged and supervised her undergraduate students on early technical and societal contributions. She supervised a group of students in her ME 346, Introduction to Tribology, a junior/senior/graduate level course, to publish their project results, Remarkable Natural Material Surfaces and Their Engineering Potentials, edited by Michelle Lee, class of 2013, published by Springer in 2014; this book received 5-star custom reviews. She supervised a Manufacturing student, Thomas Cohen, and a Mechanical-Engineering (ME) student, Raymond McCann, class of 2021, to write a book, Designing the Future, a Technological Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, with a contribution from another ME student, Elisabeth Winslow, published by Eliva in 2021. She was voted to be the Most Favorite Professor by Northwestern’s class 2020 ME graduates. In addition, she was the Faculty Advisor of the ASME Student Chapter at Northwestern University (1999-2003), The Chapter won the 2002 Greatest Numerical Improvement Award at the ASME Region VI Ingersoll-Rand Competition.

Professor Wang was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2023, received the 2015 STLE International Award, the highest award of the society, and was elected Fellow of ASME in 2009 and Fellow of STLE in 2007.  She and co-workers won the the 2023 and 2010 Edmond E Bisson Best Written Contribution Award from STLE, 2014 and 1997 Captain Alfred E. Hunt Best Paper Award from STLE, the 2015 and 2013 Best Paper Award from ASME Journal of Tribology, and the 2013 and 2011 Best Paper Award from STLE Surface Engineering Committee. She also received a CAREER Award from NSF in 1997, and Excellence in Teaching Award from FIU in1997.