Expertise
Areas of Specialization
Research Clusters
Current status
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Accepting graduate students
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Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering
Overview
The Xu Research Group develops computational and theoretical frameworks to investigate how complex materials and coupled systems deform, evolve, and fail across length and time scales. Our research addresses problems where mechanical response is coupled with transport phenomena, environmental effects, and microstructural evolution, with applications in composite and polymeric materials, porous media, geomaterials, and subsurface systems.
By combining physics-based modeling, advanced numerical simulation, and optimization, we aim to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that control material behavior and connect microscale processes to macroscale performance. This work advances both scientific understanding and engineering design, supporting the development of predictive models as well as more reliable, resilient, and sustainable materials, infrastructure, and environmental technologies.
Dr. Xu joined the Department of Civil Engineering at McMaster University after completing her postdoctoral training at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where she worked with Prof. Thao Nguyen and Prof. James Guest.
She received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2022, advised by Prof. Chloé Arson. She also earned an M.Sc. in Computational Science and Engineering from Georgia Tech, an M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Zhejiang University, and a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from China University of Geosciences. Her academic training spans civil engineering, polymer mechanics, computational science, geomechanics, and computational optimization.
Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022
Dissertation: Homogenization of Coupled Deformation, Damage and Diffusion Processes in Rocks and Finite Element Applications in Geomechanics and Geomorphology
M.Sc., Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022
M.Sc., Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, 2018
Thesis: The Development of Soil Constitutive Models Considering Fabric Evolution
B.Sc., Civil Engineering, China University of Geosciences, 2015
-Postdoctoral Fellowship ($100K), Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, 2025
-SES 2025 Student/Postdoc Travel Award, NSF–Mechanics of Materials and Structures, 2025
-Outstanding Graduate Fundamental Research Award, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019
-Excellent Bachelor’s Dissertation, Hubei Provincial Department of Education, 2015
-National Scholarship, Ministry of Education of the P.R. China, 2013
Organizational positions
-Poromechanics Committee, Engineering Mechanics Institute, Am
See Google Scholar Profile Here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gtsbipkAAAAJ&hl=en