Dr. Yu Zhang Q&A

Professor, Department of Preventive and Restorative Sciences Director for Restorative Research, Penn Dental Medicine

What is your area of research? What are some of the current projects that you are working on?

My main research area is dental materials, more specifically ceramic-based dental materials. Here are some of the current projects we are working on: 1 Designing next-generation graded materials with improved damage resistance and functionalities 2 Developing nanostructured materials for dental and biomedical devices 3 Imaging through radiopaque zirconia dental restorations 4 Elucidating competing damage modes in all-ceramic restorations under mastication 5 Characterizing the wear and fatigue behavior of dental ceramics 6 Improving the fracture resistance of veneered prostheses through the reduction of deleterious residual tensile stresses

How and why did you get involved in research?

After completing my bachelors in physics, I taught physics and electrical engineering in technical schools and subsequently worked at Pacific Dunlop for several years. I later realized that this type of work was not my true calling, and I could not envision myself running this route for the foreseeable future. I decided to go back to school, pursuing a Master’s of Science in condensed matter physics at La Trobe University in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. My very first research project was to grow II-VI semiconductor thin films for blue-green laser diodes using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology. It was very cool; we were depositing zinc and selenium layers of thicknesses in the angstrom range.

DR. YU ZHANG

What do you enjoy most about the process?

• Identifying the research question. • Providing solutions to a research problem; these days, it is often a collaborative effort that is efficient, engaging, and fruitful. • Acquiring new knowledge and wisdom through this process not just from our lab results, but also by seeing data through different team members’ eyes. • Finally, we love having an excuse to celebrate when it all pays off.

What qualities do you think are important to have as a researcher?

• Initiative • Persistence • Commitment • Attention to detail • Open mindedness

What advice would you give students who are interested in research?

• Plan experiments carefully • Conduct a pretest • Carefully document experimental procedures and results • Remain calm when unexpected events and results occur