Prof. Lorna Gibson, head of MIT’s Cellular Solids Group, studies the mechanics of materials with a cellular structure such as engineering honeycombs and foams, natural materials such as wood, palm and bamboo and medical materials such as trabecular bone and tissue engineering scaffolds. Recent projects include balsa as a model for bioinspired design of engineering materials; structural bamboo products, analogous to wood products such as oriented strandboard; and aerogels for thermal insulation.

Prof. Gibson graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She was an assistant professor in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia for two years before moving to MIT. She is the co-author of Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties (with M.F. Ashby) and of Cellular Materials in Nature and Medicine (with M.F. Ashby and B.A. Harley). She teaches two subjects: Mechanical Behavior of Materials (also offered online through MITx as 3.032x) and Cellular Solids: Structure, Properties and Applications). She was recently named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT's top award for undergraduate teaching. She has served as chair of the faculty and Associate Provost at MIT.