David Srolovitz
Dean of Engineering
David Srolovitz is Dean of Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chair of Materials Theory at the University of Hong Kong. He received his B.A. degree in Physics from Rutgers University in 1978. His M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees were both awarded by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 and 1982, respectively.
Professor Srolovitz is the author of ~550 research papers on materials theory/simulations of defects, microstructure, deformation, and film growth and has an h-index of 114, with his work garnering over 46,000 citations. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering - 2015, the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering - 2022, and is Fellow of many major materials research societies (MRS-2009, TMS-2013, ASM-1998, Institute of Physics-1999). He was a staff member at Exxon Corporate Research and Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Executive Director of the Institute for High Performance Computing in Singapore.
He has been a professor at the University of Michigan, Princeton University, Yeshiva University, the University of Pennsylvania, and City University of Hong Kong. He has held faculty positions in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, and Applied Mathematics. He has previously served as a department head, dean, institute director, and scientific director at various institutions around the world.
He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including: The TMS Hume-Rothery Award – 2026 and the MRS Materials Theory Award – 2013. He presented honorary lectures at many leading universities, including, the University of Michigan Lawrence H. Van Vlack Lecture – 2025, University of Science and Technology Beijing 112th China Distinguished Materials Scientist Lecture – 2023, Northwestern University Dow Lecturer – 2016, Johns Hopkins University Christie Lecturer – 2015, Princeton University Baetjer Lecture – 2010, HKUST Distinguished Lecture – 2010, National University of Singapore Commencement Speaker – 2010, University of British Columbia Weinberg Memorial Lecture – 2009. And, received Outstanding Paper Awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, NASA, and Acta Metallurgica.
Dean's Office: deanengg@hku.hk