We are looking for a highly motivated PhD student to work on Computational Solid Mechanics, with focus on Cell Adhesion and Mechanobiology. The project is in collaboration with experimental biologists and biophysicists located at UBC and other international laboratories. It will involve the use analytical tools in Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics (e.g. Statistical Mechanics), and computational tools such as Finite Element Analysis. The goal will be to derive important scaling laws to understand the mechanical behavior of Biological Cells under different processes such as Motility, Differentiation and Mitosis.

The position will be under the direct supervision of Dr. Mattia Bacca and will involve interaction and cooperation with other group members as well as other professors.

All students holding a degree on Mechanical or Structural Engineering, Mathematics, Physics and Material Science are invited to apply. The ideal candidate must have a good background and a strong interest in Solid Mechanics. The applicant must hold a Master degree, at the time of the start of the position: September 1st, 2021.

Interested candidates should directly contact Dr. Bacca at mbacca@mech.ubc.ca following the instructions:

When sending your email, please put “iMechanica PhD-2021 position” in the object of the email. Please provide: (i) CV; (ii) Official transcripts (from BSc and MSc); (iii) A brief statement of motivation to the project; (iv) A brief statement of diversity (how you will contribute to foster diversity at UBC and in Dr. Bacca’s group). The documents (iii) and (iv) can be simply included in the body of the email.