Honors & Awards
Dr. Zhang’s major honors and awards include election as an ASME Honorary Member, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the ASME Per Bruel Gold Medal, the Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Award for Innovation, the ASME Thomas A. Edison Patent Award, the IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award, the ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award, and the IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award. Her work has also been recognized through TIME Best Inventions, Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards and World Changing Ideas Awards, the STAT Madness All-Star Award, and the IET Innovation Award for Emerging Technology Design. She 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.
2026: ASME Honorary Member
2022: Guggenheim Fellowship
2023: ASME Per Bruel Gold Medal
2023: Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Award for Innovation
2025: ASME Thomas A. Edison Patent Award
2023: IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award
2024: ASME Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award
2016: IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award (Advanced Career)
2025: TIME Best Inventions Honoree
2026: Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards Honoree
2025: Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards Honoree
2024: Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards Honoree
2023: STAT Madness All-Star Award
2025: Global Good Awards — Game Changing Innovation of the Year Award
2024: Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year Finalist
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)
2016: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2015: Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
2017: Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
2016: Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
2019: Fellow, American Physical Society (APS)
2016: Fellow, Optica (formerly The Optical Society, OSA)
2017: Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA)
2025: Global Prize Winner, Pitch2Tokyo Global Pitch Competition
2025: Winner (DeepTech), Massachusetts Innovation Network “Eddies” Award
2024: Fifth Place (Global), TiE University Global Competition
2024: Top Innovator, New England Venture Summit
2024: Top 10 Finalist, MassChallenge Community Choice Award
2025: First Place, Yale Innovation Summit Poster Competition
2024: Winner, Pitch2Tokyo Regional Competition (Venture Café Cambridge)
2024: First Place, UMass Lowell M2D2 IMPACT Accelerator Pitch-Off
2024: First Place, TiE University Boston Pitch Competition
2023: IET Excellence and Innovation Awards — International Award Finalist
2022: IET Innovation Awards — Chief Engineer of the Year Finalist
2020: IET Achievement Medal Finalist
2021: IET Innovation Awards — Digital Health and Social Care Finalist
2021: IET Innovation Awards — Tech for Good Finalist
2020: IET Innovation Awards — Excellence in R&D Finalist
2021: Invented Here! Honoree, Boston Patent Law Association
2020: Invented Here! Honoree, Boston Patent Law Association
2022: Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Boston University
2018: Boston University Innovator of the Year Award (First Woman Chosen)
2021: Rajen Kilachand Fund for Life Sciences and Engineering Award
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)
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
Fast Company Names Sound Shield a “World Changing Idea”
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
Making MRI More Globally Accessible: How Metamaterials Offer Affordable, High-Impact Solutions
American Scientist: Custom-Tuned Materials
The Hariri Institute for Computing’s Focused Research Program (2024)
The Ignition Award (2018, 2020)
Schlumberger-Doll Research Fellowship Award (2015, 2016)
Berman Future of Light Prize Award (2009, 2013)
Dean’s Catalyst Award (2009, 2012, 2016)
The President’s Award (2007, 2012)
The Provost’s Award (2008)
Nanotechnology Pilot Grant Award (2018)
Materials Science Innovation Grant Award (2016)
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)
ASME Society-Wide Micro and Nanotechnology — Best Paper Award (2008)
ASME Nanoengineering (Medicine & Biology) — Outstanding Paper Award
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics — 2010 Highlights (2011)
Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering — 2008 Highlights (2010)
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics — 2008 Highlights (2009)
IEEE Sensors — Best Poster Award (2011)
Optical Terahertz Science and Technology — Best Poster Award (2013)
Int’l Conf. on Surface Plasmon Photonics — Best Poster Award (2013)
BU College of Engineering PhD Societal Impact Award (Ke Wu, 2023)
BU College of Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Xiaoyu (Rayne) Zheng, 2011)
BU College of Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Hu “Tiger” Tao, 2010)
BU Mechanical Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Guangwu Duan, 2019)
BU Mechanical Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Ping Du, 2013)
BU Mechanical Engineering Best Dissertation Award (Kebin Fan, 2012)
Ebner Thesis Award—Greatest Commercial Potential (Bradley Kaanta, 2011)
Ebner Thesis Award—Greatest Commercial Potential (Benjamin Hansen, 2009)
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