Hongbo Zhao
(Hong-bo JAO | he/him/his)
Assistant professor
Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego
Bio:
Prior to UCSD, Hongbo was a PBI2 Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University studying the biophysics of liquid-liquid phase separation in living cells and the collective behavior of active matter with Andrej KoĊĦmrlj, Cliff Brangwynne and Sujit Datta.
He completed his PhD at MIT under Martin Bazant. His PhD research focused on elucidating the chemical physics of energy materials and data-driven discovery of governing equations from experimental images.
Join the group
We invite students and postdoctoral researchers to join our group at the beautiful seaside UCSD campus in La Jolla, CA. We are an interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven group at the intersection of biophysics, soft matter, active matter, physical chemistry, and applied mathematics with deep interests in uncovering new fundamental principles, emergent phenomena, and methodologies of soft and living matter using innovative theoretical models and computational approaches.
Our group offers an intellectually stimulating environment where interdisciplinary research, bold, unconventional thinking and collaboration between theory and experiments are encouraged and supported. We believe in thinking beyond traditional boundaries and tackling challenging scientific problems from fresh perspectives, fostering innovation without limits. Candidates who ignite new collaborations across the School of Physical Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, and Jacobs School of Engineering are strongly encouraged.
For Prospective Students
Admitted UCSD graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to reach out to Hongbo at [email protected] to discuss research opportunities.
Prospective graduate students are encouraged to apply to graduate programs in our home departments – Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD (see links for admission requirements).
If you are interested in any of our research areas, broadly defined, we encourage you to reach out! We value creativity, diversity, forward-thinking, and a passion for tackling challenging problems. Our group is dedicated to providing students with strong theoretical and computational training, fostering ample opportunities for growth and collaboration, and cultivating an inclusive and supportive environment.
For Prospective Postdoctoral Researchers
We are looking for postdocs with a background in condensed matter physics, soft matter, biophysics, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics or related fields. If you have experience in solid and (or) fluid mechanics, computational modeling, (physics-informed) machine learning, high performance computing, statistical mechanics, we would love to hear from you.
We offer maximum flexibility in designing one or more projects that align with your research interests, expertise and career goals, including but not limited to chemo-mechanical coupling in soft and active matter, liquid-liquid phase separation, and learning biophysics from image data. Postdoctoral researchers will also have the opportunity to gain valuable experience and training in career development, mentoring, and preparing for independent research careers.
How to Apply
Interested candidates should send the following to [email protected]
- CV
- A brief description of your research interests and how they align with our group’s work
We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.