Krystyn J. Van Vliet is presently the Thomas Lord Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, with a joint appointment in Bioengineering. Van Vliet earned her Sc.B. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Brown University (1998) MIT (2002), respectively, then completed postdoctoral studies in the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston. Van Vliet's thesis and postdoctoral work focused on nanoscale mechanics of defect nucleation in metallic crystals and in vascular tissues, respectively. Though disparate in chemical complexity, crystalline and biopolymeric materials undergo phase transitions that can be induced and studied under nanoscale forces and displacements. Her current group, the Laboratory for Material Chemomechanics, focuses on multiscale measurement and computational prediction of the fundamental mechanisms of coupling between chemical and mechanical states of materials ranging from synthetic crystals to biological organisms. One application of this approach is directed modulation of tissue and microbial cell functions, through physical and mechanical cues rather than solely through chemical stimuli. Van Vliet directs the Nanomechanical Technology Laboratory, a shared experimental facility in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering.