Vijay Gupta is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, at the University of California Los Angeles. He received a Bachelor of Technology degree (1985) in Civil Engineering with Silver Medal (best scholastic performance) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, and a M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1987. Subsequently, he transferred to the Mechanical Engineering Department of MIT, and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1990. Vijay Gupta started his professional career at Dartmouth College as an Assistant Professor, and only five years after finishing his Ph.D. degree, he was offered a Full Professorship with tenure at UCLA, without going through the usual rank of Associate Professorship. He thus became one of the youngest full professors at age 30 in the United States.

Professor Gupta's research experience has covered a wide range of areas, including biomechanics, impact management, surface science, mechanical characterization of thin film interfaces, applied mechanics, ice mechanics, and composite materials. He is widely acknowledged as a leading experimentalist in the field of solid mechanics, and considered as the world's authority in the area of mechanical characterization of thin film interfaces, where he has made pioneering and sustained contributions. His publications are in excess of 150, with 4 U.S. Patents awarded and several others pending. He has given numerous (over 160) principal keynote lectures in governmental agencies, companies, and national and international conferences and symposia in nearly all industrial countries. Professor Gupta has served as a consultant to the United States Department of Defense, and several blue chip companies and national laboratories in Europe, Japan, and the United States, and his laser spallation technique has been virtually used by all major semiconductor companies in the world for characterization of adhesion in devices and packages. The same technology has also been widely used in other industrial sectors, such as, in automobile (Ford, GM, Delco), television (LG Gould in Korea), biomedical (Pacesetter Inc., Baxter Corporation), aircraft engines (Pratt and Whitney, Westinghouse Corporation), paint (Du Pont), and Dentistry.

Another major contribution of Professor Gupta has been the discovery of a new impact resistant polymer for protection against impact forces that are ubiquitously encountered in sports and the battlefield, causing bodily and traumatic brain injuries. Because of its superior impact management compared with currently used materials, this invention has the potential to be included in all protective sports, motorcycle, and combat body armors and helmets, including running shoes. This invention can impact the society in a major way.

Vijay Gupta has a rather wide range of interests. In the field of biomechanics, he is working with cardiologists, and orthopedic and dermatology surgeons, where he explores use of laser-generated ultrasound for treatment of arrhythmia, bone shaping, and fat cavitation (destruction). He received the Outstanding Young Scientist and Engineer Award from the International Union of Materials Research Societies in Japan in 1993. More recently he was awarded the Theodore Tromovitch Award from the American College of Mohs Micrographic surgery, and the young investigator award from the American Academy of Mechanics. He appears in Who's Who in Asian Americans, and Who's Who in Science and Engineering. Dr. Gupta was awarded the Institute Silver Medal from the Indian Institute of Technology for the best scholastic performance in the Civil Engineering class of 1985, and in the same year he also received the prestigious J. N. Tata Fellowship for being one of the outstanding engineering graduates of India. He is a member of Sigma Xi, and the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. He is a member of several professional societies, including ASME, the Materials Research Society, and the American Ceramics Society, among others.

Professor Gupta's interview regarding use of a UCLA developed polymer in football helmets: