Ottman Tertuliano
About
Ottman Tertuliano studies how living hierarchical structures, from mineralized tissues to cellular networks, sense, resist and adapt to mechanical forces. This coupling between structure and sensation is what allows bone to strengthen with exercise and what breaks down in diseases like osteoporosis. Using tools they develop in-house, including in situ synchrotron X-ray nanomechanics and nanoscale 3D-printed platforms, Tertuliano’s lab is resolving the physical mechanisms of mechanical adaptation at the length and time scales where they actually occur. The team’s goal is to understand the physical principles governing this adaptation, and what goes wrong when it fails.
Awards
- Haythornthwaite Research Initiation Award, ASME Applied Mechanics Division, 2023
- Stephen Timoshenko Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University, 2018
- Arthur Nowick Graduate Student Award, Materials Research Society, 2018
- GOLD Graduate Student Award, Materials Research Society, 2018
Relevant Publications
- Capaldi, L., Ford, J., Rai, R., Chen, W., Stach, E., & Tertuliano, O. A. (2025). Microscale fatigue toughening in ductile lamellar alloys. PNAS.
- Chen, K., Bolanos-Campos, A., Lozano Perez, M., Wang, T., Berlew, E., Tao, R., Mathijssen, A., Boerckel, J., & Tertuliano, O. A. (2025). Biphasic mechanical loading disrupts cytoskeletal symmetry in 3D architected scaffolds. Biophysical Journal.
- Tertuliano, O. A., & Greer, J. R. (2016). The nanocomposite nature of bone drives its strength and damage resistance. Nature Materials, 15, 1195–1202.