New faculty bring new perspectives related to contemporary themes in mechanics

Two new faculty bring new perspectives to contemporary themes in mechanics. The new faculty joined the CEGE geomechanics group in the fall of 2025. Their fresh perspectives on subsurface processes, material behaviors, and the mechanics of natural and engineered systems will advance contemporary themes in mechanics that bridge fundamental science and societal needs.

Hudson Borja da Rocha is an expert in the physics and mechanics of materials, with emphasis on soft materials, fracture mechanics, and biophysics, and he will add depth to CEGE’s teaching mission and research mission in this space. He comes to CEGE from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a Postdoctoral Associate. Borja da Rocha received his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from École Polytechnique, France.

Guanyi Lu has expertise in experimental and computational geomechanics and will strengthen this area in within CEGE. Lu was most recently a Visiting Assistant Professor at University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Before that, he did research at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia. Lu earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018.

These new faces join CEGE's already impressive geomechanics faculty: Emmanuel Detournay (NAE), Joseph Labuz, Randal Barnes, Stefano Gonella, Bojan Guzina, Sonia Mogilevskaya, Otto Strack,  and Vaughan Voller.