Honors & Awards
Dr. Zhang’s major honors and awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship (2022); the ASME Per Bruel Gold Medal (2023); the Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Award for Innovation (2023); the ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award (2024); the IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award (2016); the IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award (2023); and the ASME Thomas A. Edison Patent Award (2025). She has also received the IET Innovation Award for Emerging Technology Design (2019) and the STAT Madness All-Star Award (2023), a national distinction recognizing excellence in biomedical research. Her work has earned international recognition as a Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year Finalist (2023, 2024) and through honors from Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards (2024) and World Changing Ideas Awards (2025), the Global Good Award for Game-Changing Innovation of the Year (Silver, 2025), and designation by TIME as a Best Invention (2025). Dr. Zhang is a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, AAAS, ASME, IEEE, AIMBE, APS, and Optica, and an Associate Fellow of AIAA.
2025: ASME Thomas A. Edison Patent Award
2024: ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award
2023: Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Award for Innovation
2023: ASME Per Bruel Gold Medal
2023: IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award
2022: Guggenheim Fellowship
2016: IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award (Advanced Career)
2025: TIME Best Inventions Honoree
2025: Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards Honoree
2025: Global Good Awards — Game Changing Innovation of the Year Award
2024: Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards Honoree
2024: Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Finalist
2023: STAT Madness All-Star Award
2023: Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Finalist
2019: IET Innovation Awards — Emerging Technology Design Winner
2023: Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts
2019: Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI)
2019: Fellow, American Physical Society (APS)
2017: Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
2017: Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA)
2016: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2016: Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
2016: Fellow, Optica (formerly The Optical Society, OSA)
2015: Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
2023: IET Excellence and Innovation Awards — International Award Finalist
2022: IET Innovation Awards — Chief Engineer of the Year Finalist
2021: Invented Here! Honoree, Boston Patent Law Association
2021: IET Innovation Awards — Digital Health and Social Care Finalist
2021: IET Innovation Awards — Tech for Good Finalist
2020: Invented Here! Honoree, Boston Patent Law Association
2020: IET Achievement Medal Finalist
2020: IET Innovation Awards — Excellence in R&D Finalist
2022: Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Boston University
2021: Rajen Kilachand Fund for Life Sciences and Engineering Award
2018: Boston University Innovator of the Year Award (First Woman Chosen)
2018: Charles DeLisi Award and Distinguished Lecture
2011: E.U.-U.S. National Academy of Engineering Invitee (ages 30—45)
2009: Inaugural Distinguished Faculty Fellow of Engineering, Boston University
2007: National Academy of Engineering Invitee (ages 30—45)
2025: Winner (DeepTech), Massachusetts Innovation Network “Eddies” Award
2025: Global Prize Winner, Pitch2Tokyo Global Pitch Competition
2025: First Place, Yale Innovation Summit Poster Competition
2024: Winner, Pitch2Tokyo Regional Competition (Venture Café Cambridge)
2024: Top Innovator, New England Venture Summit
2024: Top 10 Finalist, MassChallenge Community Choice Award
2024: Fifth Place (Global), TiE University Global Competition
2024: First Place, UMass Lowell M2D2 IMPACT Accelerator Pitch-Off
2024: First Place, TiE University Boston Pitch Competition
Making the World a Lot Quieter
No More Noise: Metamaterials Can Make the World a Quieter Place
This Smarter Sound Shield Blocks More Noise–Without Blocking Air
Magnetic Metamaterial Can “Turn Up the Volume” of MRI
Speeding Up MRI Scans to Save Lives
This Bizzarre Looking Helmet Can Create Better Brain Scans
Unleashing the Power of Metamaterials to Improve MRI Imaging
American Scientist: Custom-Tuned Materials
Revolutionizing MRI Restoration with Transformer Technology
Making MRI More Globally Accessible: How Metamaterials Offer Affordable, High-Impact Solutions
Reconfigurable metasurfaces, Science, Vol. 360, Issue 6386
Metamaterials to see in THz, Science, Vol. 334, Issue 6058
Metamaterial Persian carpets, Nature, Vol. 456, No. 7218
Near-perfect ‘black’, Nature, Vol. 453, No. 7197
Filling the THz gap, Science, Vol. 320, Issue 5881
The Hariri Institute for Computing’s Focused Research Program (2024)
The Ignition Award (2018, 2020)
Nanotechnology Pilot Grant Award (2018)
Materials Science Innovation Grant Award (2016)
Schlumberger-Doll Research Fellowship Award (2015, 2016)
Berman Future of Light Prize Award (2009, 2013)
Dean’s Catalyst Award (2009, 2012, 2016)
The Provost’s Award (2008)
The President’s Award (2007, 2012)
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Award (2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015)
SPRInG Award (2002)
Microsystems & Nanoengineering (Nature) — Highly Cited Paper Award (2020)
Springer Nature 2019 Highlights — Top article of the year (2020)
Optical Terahertz Science and Technology — Best Poster Award (2013)
ASME Nanoengineering (Medicine & Biology) — Outstanding Paper Award
Int’l Conf. on Surface Plasmon Photonics — Best Poster Award (2013)
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics — 2010 Highlights (2011)
IEEE Sensors — Best Poster Award (2011)
Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering — 2008 Highlights (2010)
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics — 2008 Highlights (2009)
ASME Society-Wide Micro and Nanotechnology — Best Paper Award (2008)
BU College of Engineering PhD Societal Impact Award (Ke Wu, 2023)
BU Mechanical Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Guangwu Duan, 2019)
BU Mechanical Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Ping D, 2013u)
BU Mechanical Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Kebin Fan, 2012)
BU College of Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Xiaoyu (Rayne) Zheng, 2011)
Ebner Thesis Award—Greatest Commercial Potential (Bradley Kaanta, 2011)
BU College of Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Hu “Tiger” Tao, 2010)
Ebner Thesis Award—Greatest Commercial Potential (Benjamin Hansen, 2009)