Gerard Ateshian bio photo

Gerard A. Ateshian

Andrew Walz Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Gerard Ateshian performs research in the field of soft tissue mechanics, with an emphasis on cartilage mechanics, lubrication, and tissue engineering, and the formulation of growth theories for biological tissues. A major component of his research focuses on understanding and treating osteoarthritis. In collaboration with Prof. Clark T. Hung at Columbia, he has translated his findings on cartilage mechanics to the field of functional cartilage tissue engineering, with the aim of developing bio

Ateshian is particularly interested in formulating continuum mechanics theories that accommodate the complexities encountered in living biological tissues and cells, including mass transport, osmotic effects, and reactive mechanics in solid mixtures, needed to describe tissue growth and remodeling. Ateshian has used and extended the framework of mixture theory to explicitly account for mass exchanges among reactants and products, incorporating evolving mass content as state variables in functions of state, such as internal energy, entropy, stress, and mass supplies. His theoretical work also addresses the equivalence between classical passive and active membrane transport theories in biophysics and the framework of reactive mixtures. This theoretical work has been extensively tested and validated against experiments conducted in his laboratory. Ateshian has proposed that many of the classical theories of continuum mechanics, such as viscoelasticity, damage mechanics, and thermoelasticity, may be reformulated in the context of reactive constrained solid mixtures to employ only observable state variables, instead of the more common approach that relies on hidden variables. This approach considerably facilitates the validation of theoretical models against experimental observations.

Ateshian received his BS (1986), MS (1987), MPhil (1990) and PhD (1991) degrees in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers.

Research Areas

  • Mechanobiology
  • Biomechanics
  • Cell and Tissue Engineering
  • Cell and Tissue Biomechanics
  • Regenerative Medicine
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Mechanics
  • Soft Tissue Engineering
  • Thermodynamics
  • Computational Mechanics
  • Physical Chemistry

Additional information

  • Professional Experience
    • Andrew Walz Professor of Mechanical Engineering, 2013-
    • Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2011-2014
    • Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 2002-
    • Vice-Chair of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 1999-2002
    • Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 1998–2002
    • Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 1996–2002
    • Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 1991-1996
  • Professional Affiliations
    • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
    • Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
    • Orthopedic Research Society (ORS)
    • Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI)
    • American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE)
    • U.S. National Committee on Biomechanics (USNCB)
  • Honors & Awards
    • H.R. Lissner Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2017
    • OARSI Basic Science Award, Osteoarthritis Research Society International, 2013
    • Columbia Engineering Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, 2012
    • Great Teacher Award, Society of Columbia Graduates, 2002
    • YC Fung Young Investigator Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1997
  • Education
    • PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University
    • MS, Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University
    • BS, Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University