About

His research focuses on the mechanical behavior of a wide range of materials, including metals, ceramics, intermetallics, biomaterials, and biological tissues such as teeth, bones, and skin.

His interests include a diversity of functional material properties including mechanical, optical and biological, linking chemical features, hierarchical and multiscale structures, to functional performance in the context of physiological, pathological and other extreme conditions. He has published several hundred scholarly articles on materials design and modeling, and authored several books. His most recent book "Biomateriomics" presents a new paradigm for the analysis of bio-inspired materials and structures to devise new biomaterial platforms, and using a mathematical categorization approach that connects insights from disparate fields such as materials, structures to music and language.

Buehler has received numerous awards and recognitions, including Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award for exceptional distinction in teaching and in research or scholarship, the highest honor bestowed on young MIT faculty. Other major awards include the Alfred Noble Prize, the Leonardo da Vinci Award, the Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, the TMS Robert Lansing Hardy Award, the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator and the IEEE Holm Conference Morton Antler Lecture Award, and many other recognitions from professional societies. He is also recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the United States Air Force Young Investigator Award, the Navy Young Investigator Award, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, as well as the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. He was an invitee at several National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposia and has delivered several plenary lectures at this forum. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and NANOSMAT Society. In 2016, he was awarded the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. In 2018, Buehler was selected as Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, recognizing his exceptional research performance demonstrated by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science.

Buehler is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Engineering Science (SES), and has been elected to serve as President of the Society of Engineering Science in 2019. He served as the chair of several conferences, societal committees, and is actively involved in public outreach, as well as translation of basic research through entrepreneurship and startups.

His research interests include multi-scale structural characterization and mechanical testing of biological materials, synthesis of bio-inspired and biomedical materials, multi-functional surface science and technologies.

The research of her group focuses on structure-property-processing correlations in biomimetic and freeze-cast materials, the basic science of freeze casting, and the custom-design and manufacture of materials for biomedical and energy applications.  In her outreach activities, she aims to enthuse for materials science and engineering through interdisciplinary projects with sports, food science, the arts, and music.