Junlan Wang, the Director of UW Nanomech Lab, is an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington (UW).

Previously, She was an associate professor (with tenure) (2008) and assistant professor (2003-2008) of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). At UCR, she was also a participating faculty member of the Materials Science and Engineering Program, the UCR Stem Cell Research Center, and a cooperating faculty member of the Department of Electrical Engineering. She has been an adjunct professor for the California Institute of Nanotechnology since spring 2008.

Before joining UCR, Junlan spent one year at Brown University as a PostDoctoral Research Associate (Advisor: Prof. Kyung-Suk Kim). She received her Ph.D. degree (2002) in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) (Advisors: Prof. Nancy R. Sottos and Prof. Richard L. Weaver), and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Advisor: Prof. Xiao-Ping Wu).

As a faculty member, Junlan is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the ASEE Beer and Johnston Outstanding New Mechanics Educator Award, the Bourns College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the SEM Hetenyi Award, the ASME Materials Division Certificate of Recognition, the NSF Summer Institute Fellowship, the UC TSR&TP New Investigator, and the UC Regents Faculty Fellowship and the Faculty Development Award. While studying at UIUC, Junlan received a Thomas J. Dolan Award, a Fred B. Seely Award, a Dissertation Completion Fellowship, all for academic excellence, and a Graduate Teacher Certificate for effective teaching practices. At USTC, Junlan's honors include a Guang-Hua Outstanding Graduate Award, an ELITE Experimental Science Award, and People's Scholarships for outstanding undergraduate students.

Junlan is a member of the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Materials Research Society (MRS), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Currently she is serving as the Secretary for the Experimental Mechanics Technical Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division. She served as the Chair (2006-2008) and Vice Chair (2005-06) of the ASME Multifunctional Materials Technical Committee, and is an elected Member-At-Large of the ASME Materials Division Executive Committee.