Browsing through past themes, I realize that this is the third time the topic of experimental mechanics at the nanoscale has been highlighted in the jClub forum. There are many problems that require experimental research at the nanoscale that we can do this a few more times without being repetitive. I would like to focus this discussion on the fundamental issue of friction.

The Applied Mechanics Division (AMD) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 awards.

The US National Academy of Engineering has published a list of Grand Challenges for Engineering. Ths US National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics is interested in developing a discussion on the implications of these Grand Challenges to the Mechanics community.

Zhigang Suo posted a link to this: http://www.imechanica.org/node/2908; this post will be on the top of the front page for the foreseeable future in to keep this on the "front burner" and to promote discussions within the community. Please look into these Grand Challenge problems and provide your input on this page. Zhigang and I will moderate these discussions and then integrate and distill our thoughts over time.

The US National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics is seeking proposals from US institutions interested in hosting the 2014 US National Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. If you are interested, please contact K. Ravi-Chandar: kravi@mail.utexas.edu for more information. 

We are now accepting abstracts. Please visit http://www.mecheng.iisc.ernet.in/~iqicf/ to get the template for abstracts. The deadline for abstract submission is March 31, 2008.

The Robert M. and Mary Haythornthwaite Foundation is offering $1,000 travel grants for U.S. graduate students currently enrolled at any U.S. universities or colleges presenting a paper in any field of applied mechanics at the 2007 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exhibition (IMECE) in Seattle, Washington, November 11 – 15, 2007.

An updated Call for Nominations for the awards administered by the Applied Mechanics Division has been posted on the AMD website. Please nominate worthy candidates to these awards.

 A new award, named the Thomas K. Caughey Dynamics Award will be awarded for the first time in 2008. In addition, the Applied Mechanics Division Award and the Young Investigator Award have been endowed by the friends of Ted Belytschko and Thomas J.R. Hughes respectively.

The AMD Executive Committee is now seeking nominations for the following awards: the Timoshenko Medal, the Koiter Medal, the Drucker Medal, the AMD Award and the Young Investigator Award. The deadline for nominations is October 1, 2007. Please see the AMD website for details.

I have posted a movie showing a ring expansion experiment. A thin aluminum ring is made to expand through electromagnetic interaction at strain rates of about 10^4 per second. As the strain increases, numerous necks and fragments appear.

I am pleased to announce that a new blolg associated with the International Journal of Fracture has been created by Springer. This is an ambitious project that aims to augment the published version of the papers and to create a dialogue between authors and readers. All articles beginning with the Dec 2004 issue now have a blog entry; ealier volumes will be added as digital processing of information continues. Discussion is not restricted to papers published in the journal, but should relate to the fracture/failure/structural integrity theme/micromechanics. Please see my post of Oct 25, 2006 for a detailed description of the obectives of the blog. I welcome your particpation in this experiment to enhance archival publication.

The McMat 2007 conference, organized by the University of Texas on behalf of the Applied Mechanics and the Materials Divisions of the ASME, will be held in Austin, June 3-7, 2007.

We are now accepting proposals for symposia and abstracts of papers.