10-23-12
Guruswami (Ravi) Ravichandran is an expert on breakups—of ceramics and metals, not relationships. The John E. Goode, Jr., Professor of Aerospace and professor of mechanical engineering and the director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech, Ravichandran will give a Watson Lecture about his work at the leading edge of impact mechanics on Wednesday, October 24. [Learn more about Prof. Ravichandran] [Notes from the Back Row]
10-11-12
Twenty former PhD and graduate student advisees of Frank E. Marble, Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Jet Propulsion, Emeritus, have joined together to honor and thank their mentor by creating the Frank and Ora Lee Marble Endowed Professorship. Chair Ares Rosakis, remarks, “Inspirational teachers and researchers like Frank Marble and his adviser Theodore von Kármán create new schools of thought which nurture generation after generation of academics. It is this long term commitment to education and research that helps the Engineering and Applied Science Division and Caltech maintain their number one position in the recently announced world university rankings." [Learn More]
Tags: GALCIT MCE EAS history Frank E. Marble
10-04-12
For the third year the Times Higher Education world university rankings has ranked Caltech as number one in engineering and technology. [View Rankings] [Caltech Feature]
09-24-12
Dale Pullin, Theodore von Karman Professor of Aeronautics, and Hans Hornung, C. L. Kelly Johnson Professor of Aeronautics, Emeritus, have been elected as Fellows of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society (AFMS). The Fellowships recognize outstanding contributions to fluid mechanics research in Australia and New Zealand. While the AFMS is in its formative years and this is only the second round of elections, the Fellows will represent an increasingly important part of the Society and its activities. The Fellowships will be presented at the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference to be held in Launceston, Tasmania, December 3-7, 2012.
Tags: honors GALCIT Hans Hornung Dale Pullin
09-14-12
Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, Founder and Executive Chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited and Director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, is the 2012 recipient of the International von Kármán Wings Award. He was honored for his technical and leadership contributions to aerospace academia and industry—in particular, for pioneering the concept of rapid-response, low-cost, and highly capable small satellites for Earth observation, communications, and space science. The von Kármán Wings Award acknowledges outstanding contributions by international innovators, leaders, and pioneers in aerospace and is presented by the Aerospace Historical Society, which is part of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech (GALCIT). [Caltech Release]
Tags: honors GALCIT Martin Sweeting
08-29-12
"Turbulence is everywhere," says Professor Beverley McKeon—from continent-spanning weather systems down to the swirls of air your car leaves behind itself as you drive. "I think about things like ships, planes, and pipelines," she explains, noting that about half of the energy consumed by each of those three transportation systems goes to counteract turbulence-induced drag. In her Watson Lecture she notes that finding a way to reduce that turbulence by 30 percent would save the global economy well over $100,000,000 dollars in fuel costs annually. [Learn More]
08-27-12
Dennis Kochmann, Assistant Professor of Aerospace, has received the 2012 International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) Bureau Prize in Solid Mechanics. The prize is awarded every four years by the union to outstanding young scientists based on their papers and presentations at the international congress. Professor Kochmann's presentation was entitled "Making positive use of instability - ultra-high stiffness and damping composites and structures due to constrained instabilities". The presentation described how engineers can make positive use of mechanical instabilities. While engineering design commonly aims to prevent instabilities of any kind (leading to failure or collapse), controlled and careful use of mechanical instabilities can result in new material and structural systems that possess superior properties such as very high stiffness (meaning minimal deformation under loads) and high damping (meaning any external vibrations are effectively attenuated). [Past Winners of Prize]
Tags: honors GALCIT Dennis Kochmann
08-10-12
Guruswami Ravichandran, John E. Goode, Jr., Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering as well as the Director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, has been elected into the European Academy of Sciences and Arts under the class of Technical and Environmental Sciences. The Academy focuses on interdisciplinary discussion across specialist areas, ideologies and scientific cultures as well as promoting transnational dialog and visionary developments of new scientific knowledge and academic thinking.
Tags: GALCIT MCE Guruswami Ravichandran
07-24-12
Chiara Daraio, Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Physics, has won a 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Daraio was recognized for her "pioneering contributions to nonlinear mechanical phenomena in acoustic crystals, granular material, and multifunctional nanostructures, and for mentoring women and providing research opportunities for high school and undergraduate students."
"The entire Caltech community is proud to see Professor Daraio recognized with this presidential honor, not only for her pioneering research accomplishments, but also for her commitment to students and diversity," says Chair Ares Rosakis. "Even though she is near the beginning of her career she already embodies the key attributes of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech." [Caltech Release]
Tags: APhMS honors Chiara Daraio GALCIT PECASE
07-23-12
Guruswami Ravichandran, John E. Goode, Jr., Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, who is also the Director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, has been elected as a 2012 Fellow of American Academy of Mechanics (AAM). He recieved this honor for “his outstanding contributions to the understanding of mechanical behavior of materials under extreme loading environments.”
