About

Lorna J. Gibson is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow. She specializes in studying the mechanical behavior of materials with a cellular structure, including engineering honeycombs, foams, scaffolds for regenerative engineering, and natural materials such as wood, bamboo, and plant leaves and stems. Her research has contributed to understanding the mechanics of cellular solids and their applications in various fields. Gibson has co-authored several books on cellular materials and has led projects involving the design and characterization of osteochondral scaffolds for cartilage and bone regeneration, fluid flow mechanics in open-cell foams, low thermal conductivity aerogels, and structural bamboo products. She earned her BAS in civil engineering from the University of Toronto in 1978 and her PhD in materials engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1981, focusing on the elastic and plastic behavior of cellular materials. Her career includes work as a senior engineer in the Arctic, academic positions at the University of British Columbia, and a long-standing appointment at MIT, where she joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 1996. Gibson has also co-founded a medical technology company, OrthoMimetics, and has served in leadership roles at MIT, including chair of the faculty and associate provost.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Political Science
• Public relations
• Chemical engineering
• Business
• Economics
• Materials science
• Composite material
• Economic growth
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• Comparison of Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression – Depression subscale scores by administration mode: An individual participant data differential item functioning meta-analysis

  Journal of Affective Disorders · 2024-06-21 · 8 citations

  reviewOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure and Table Legends from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure and Table Legends from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure 1 from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 1 from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Table 2 from Confirmation of 5p12 As a Susceptibility Locus for Progesterone-Receptor–Positive, Lower Grade Breast Cancer

  2023-03-31

  supplementary-materialsOpen access

  <p>PDF file - 94K</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Tables 1-4 from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  2023-03-30

  supplementary-materialsOpen access

  Supplementary Tables 1-4 from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Table 2 from Confirmation of 5p12 As a Susceptibility Locus for Progesterone-Receptor–Positive, Lower Grade Breast Cancer

  2023-03-31

  supplementary-materialsOpen access

  <p>PDF file - 94K</p>

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure 1 from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 1 from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Table 4 from Confirmation of 5p12 As a Susceptibility Locus for Progesterone-Receptor–Positive, Lower Grade Breast Cancer

  2023-03-31

  supplementary-materialsOpen access

  <p>PDF file - 70K</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Table 3 from Confirmation of 5p12 As a Susceptibility Locus for Progesterone-Receptor–Positive, Lower Grade Breast Cancer

  2023-03-31

  supplementary-materialsOpen access

  <p>PDF file - 71K</p>

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Information from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Information from Premenopausal Mammographic Density in Relation to Cyclic Variations in Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels, Prolactin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Biomimicking of Natural Tubular Structures

  NSF · $290k · 2004–2008

• G8 Initiative: Structural Bamboo Products

  NSF · $447k · 2012–2017

• NIH Grant R01AR041894

  NIH · $474k · 2001

Frequent coauthors

• Olivia Fletcher

  268 shared

• Isabel dos‐Santos‐Silva

  London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

  249 shared

• Nichola Johnson

  Institute of Cancer Research

  247 shared

• Julian Peto

  London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

  229 shared

• Elinor J. Sawyer

  225 shared

• Ian Tomlinson

  223 shared

• Alan Ashworth

  215 shared

• Michael J. Kerin

  University Hospital Galway

  214 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1990

• M.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1985

• B.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1983

Awards & honors

• 2017 Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching, MIT
• 2015 Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT
• 2013 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching, M…
• 2001 Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers