About Chair Cate Brinson

The Donald M. Alstadt Chair

Cate Brinson joined Duke in 2017 as the Sharon C. and Harold L. Yoh, III Professor. She became department chair in 2019.

Brinson’s research combines computational models, data science and physical experiments to lay the groundwork for developing new materials for applications ranging from cell phones to biomedical devices.

She has won numerous awards, including the Society of Engineering Science 2022 A.C. Eringen Medal, ASME Nadai Medal and the Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Prize.

AI for Designing Materials

She is the principal investigator of the NanoMetaMine project, a $5-million NSF-funded national consortium focused on building a data-driven framework for discovering new polymer nanocomposites and structural metamaterials.

She is also the principal investigator of the $3 million NSF-funded aiM-NRT—the AI for Understanding and Designing Materials National Research Traineeship. The program provides PhD students with integrated training for both materials and computer scientists to advance the frontiers of research and training in this new convergent field. 

Before joining Duke, Brinson served as associate dean for academic and professional initiatives at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. There, she coordinated the development and promotion of an array of research centers and consolidated leadership of eight professional master’s programs.

She served for six years as chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She led growth in faculty and research expenditures, started a master’s program, promoted design across the curriculum and led the development of the department’s first endowed lecture.