Heng E. Zuo

Dr. Heng Zuo is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Mexico. She earned her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2021 and then completed a postdoctoral appointment at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. She previously received an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 2017 and a B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua University in 2014.

Dr. Zuo’s research bridges mechanical, aerospace, and optical engineering, with a focus on advanced manufacturing, mechanics, materials, computational modeling, and system design. Her group develops ultrafast-laser-based manufacturing methods and studies the mechanics and materials behavior that govern the fabrication and performance of engineered systems. Her research integrates ultrafast-laser processing with finite-element and multiphysics modeling, materials development, precision characterization, structural and thermomechanical testing, and optomechanical engineering. These efforts support applications in space optics, photonic devices, lightweight structural and optomechanical systems, and other high-performance technologies operating in demanding environments, with an emphasis on both fundamental understanding and practical implementation.

Her work has been recognized through the NSF CAREER Award, the NSF EPSCoR Research Fellowship, and multiple NASA-funded projects.