Jian Cao is a materials scientist and mechanical engineer whose research includes the mechanical behavior and manufacturing of sheet metal and woven composite materials, including dieless deformation and laser additive manufacturing processes.
Cao studied materials science and engineering and automatic control at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, earning a bachelor's degree there in 1989.
She went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for graduate study in mechanical engineering, earned a master's degree there in 1992, and completed her Ph.D. in 1995,[2][3] under the supervision of Mary Cunningham Boyce.
She was promoted to associate professor in 2002, and served as a program director at the National Science Foundation from 2003 to 2005.
[11] She was the 2016 winner of the SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal,[12] and the 2020 winner of the SME Gold Medal, "for her creative and pioneering contributions to the development of the scientific and technological bases of innovative manufacturing processes through extensive publication, speaking and public service activities".