David R. Clarke

Professor David R. Clarke is the inaugural Extended Tarr Family Professor of Materials at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is a Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) and member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

• PhD in Physics (University of Cambridge)
• B.Sc. in Applied Sciences (Sussex University)
• ScD (University of Cambridge)

His research spans fundamentals and applications of ceramics, metals, semiconductors, and polymers, focusing on mechanical properties, thermal barrier coatings, dielectric elastomers, oxidation fundamentals, and microelectronics reliability. Recent work explores electro-adhesive forces and nanopore evolution in yttria-stabilized zirconia.

With over 500 publications in journals like Nature and Advanced Materials, Clarke's work has been cited >50,000 times (h-index 107). He holds 13 patents and has advised students across MIT, UC Berkeley, and Harvard.

• 2008 Japanese NIMS Award
• 1993 Humboldt Senior Scientist Award
• Distinguished Life Member, American Ceramic Society

Teaching includes undergraduate courses on heat transfer and materials design, plus graduate courses on dislocations and composites. His lab recently worked on quantum dot displays and fatigue crack sensing technologies.