Rate My Professor Jihua Gou

Jihua Gou is a Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering in 1993 and a Master’s degree in Materials Engineering in 1996 from Chongqing University, a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering in 1999 from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering in 2002 from Florida State University. Gou started his academic career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Alabama from 2002 to 2007. He joined UCF in 2007 as an Associate Professor, was promoted to Professor in 2013, and founded the Composite Materials and Structures Laboratory (CMSL) in 2007, where he serves as Director.

His research specializations include composite materials and structures, nanocomposite materials, multi-functional coatings, advanced manufacturing, and multi-scale modeling of manufacturing processes. The CMSL explores processing, characterization, testing, and analysis of polymeric matrix composites, ceramic matrix composites, and metal matrix composites for applications in space, aircraft, energy, marine, automotive, infrastructure, and biomedical engineering. The lab has secured funding from NSF, FAA, DOE, NASA, ONR, AFRI, ACS PRF, FSGC, FCAAP, Space Florida, and industries. Gou has received the UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award (2017), Best Poster Award from the American Ceramic Society (2014), UCF CECS Distinguished Researcher Award (2012), Best Paper Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (2010), and MAE Researcher of the Year at UCF (2009, 2010). In 2024, his team won the Best Poster Award at the DOE/NETL Spring Project Review for a $1 million DOE-funded project developing ceramic matrix composites for hydrogen turbine combustion liners. Key publications include “Highly Stretchable and Wearable Strain Sensors Based on Printable Carbon Nanotube Layers/Polydimethysiloxane Composites with Adjustable Sensitivity” (ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018), “3D Printing of Polymer Matrix Composites: A Review and Prospective” (Composites Part B: Engineering, 2017), “Carbon Nanofiber Paper for Lightning Strike Protection of Composite Materials” (Composites Part B: Engineering, 2010), and “Recovery Torque Modeling of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Shape Memory Polymer Nanocomposites” (Applied Physics Letters, 2013).