Dr. Gao is a Naval Architect and a Chartered Engineer with a doctorate degree (PhD) in Computational Fluid Dynamics and a bachelor’s degree in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, working as an independent consultant with SteegeXP.

Her areas of expertise cover all the naval architectural aspects of both marine and offshore structures, including but not limited to marine structure integrity, structure health monitoring, hydrodynamics of ship and offshore structures, mooring and seakeeping, decarbonisation and vessel performance, and subsea engineering. As an author of many articles published in journals and conferences and with one patent filed in three countries, Mimi has worked in both academia and industry for more than 18 years. She conducted forensic investigations on numerous marine casualties and incidents, including vessel groundings, collisions, propulsion and bearing failures, propeller performance issues, fatigue failures and mooring failures.

Appointed as Expert Witness, she assists the court and tribunal in various jurisdictions. She is the panel arbitrator of the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) and a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb). She is appointed as Expert Determiner and Arbitrator in references on an ad hoc basis or under institutional rules.