Rate My Professor Jian Ping Gong

Jian Ping Gong is a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Advanced Life Science at Hokkaido University and serves as Principal Investigator at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD). She joined Hokkaido University in 1993 and has focused her career on polymer science. Gong earned a bachelor’s degree in electronic physics from Zhejiang University in China, a master’s degree in polymer science from Ibaraki University in Japan, a Doctor of Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and a Doctorate of Science in polymer sciences.

Her research centers on soft and wet matter, with particular emphasis on the synthesis and properties of high-performance hydrogels, including tough double-network hydrogels, self-healing materials, low-friction gels, and adhesive gels for potential biomedical applications such as artificial cartilage and cell scaffolds. Key publications include the 2003 paper “Double Network Hydrogels with Extremely High Mechanical Strength” in Advanced Materials and the 2013 paper “Physical hydrogels composed of polyampholytes demonstrate high toughness and viscoelasticity” in Nature Materials, along with numerous other works in Science, Advanced Materials, and Macromolecules. Gong has received multiple honors, including the 2023 Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society, the Chemical Society of Japan Award in 2022, the MEXT Commendation for Science and Technology in 2019, and earlier awards such as the DSM Materials Sciences Award in 2014. She has held leadership roles including Director of the Global Station for Soft Matter at GI-CoRE from 2016 to 2019 and serves on editorial and advisory boards for journals including Soft Matter, Advanced Materials, and Materials Horizons. Her work has advanced understanding of the mechanical behavior of soft materials and contributed to the development of functional biomaterials.