Wendy MaoView profile
Professor
Wendy Mao is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Photon Science, and (by courtesy) Geophysics at Stanford University, affiliated with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Her research focuses on materials under extreme conditions, particularly high pressure, to understand planetary interiors, energy materials, and novel phases. Key interests include phase transitions in minerals, silicate melts, and light-element alloys, with applications in planetary core modeling and hydrogen storage. Education: Ph.D. in Geophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago (2005). Teaching includes Earth's interior dynamics, mineralogy, and a freshman seminar on diamonds. Research emphasizes high-pressure experimentation using diamond anvil cells and synchrotron X-ray techniques. Recent work explores metallic hydrogen, iron spin states in super-Earths, and amorphization in halide perovskites. Collaborations leverage machine learning and advanced imaging for material characterization. Her lab develops methods to stabilize metastable phases and study ultrafast structural responses under shock compression. The group also investigates defects in quantum sensors and novel synthesis pathways for energy materials.











