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L. Catherine Brinson

Sharon C. and Harold L. Yoh, III Distinguished Professor
Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
3379 Fciemas Building, Box 90300, Durham, NC 27708
3379 Fciemas Building, Duke Campus, Durham, NC 27708

Research Interests


Mechanics of materials, with emphasis on complex hierarchical materials and polymer based systems, and merging concepts of data science into materials. Nanoscale and bulk scale experimental characterization, modeling and simulation of the behavior of materials, including physics based and machine learning approaches. Current research foci include nanostructured polymers, interfacial behavior, structural metamaterials and data platforms for material query and design.

Selected Grants


MRI: Track 2 Acquisition of the Thermo Fischer Cryogenic Helios 5 CX DualBeam for Materials Science

EquipmentCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2023 - 2026

FAIR Data and Interpretable AI Framework for Architectured Metamaterials

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Department of Energy · 2020 - 2025

Local Polymer Interfacial Mechanics: Effect of Topological and Chemical NanoPatterning

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2021 - 2025

NRT-HDR: Harnessing AI for Autonomous Material Design

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2020 - 2025

Collaborative Research: Framework: Data: HDR: Nanocomposites to Metamaterials: A Knowledge Graph Framework

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2018 - 2024

Acquisition of a VRS1250 Video-Rate Imaging Module for a Shared-Use Asylum-Cypher Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)

EquipmentMajor User · Awarded by North Carolina Biotechnology Center · 2023 - 2024

CIF21 DIBBs: PD: Ontology-enabled Polymer Nanocomposite Open Community Data Resource

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · 2017 - 2019

External Relationships


  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong
  • Springer Publishing Company

This faculty member (or a member of their immediate family) has reported outside activities with the companies, institutions, or organizations listed above. This information is available to institutional leadership and, when appropriate, management plans are in place to address potential conflicts of interest.