mechanician

Vladimir Arnold died on 3rd of June 2010 in Paris, just 9 days before his 73rd birthday.

I am sure many mechanicians know him by his books, such as

Professor Wolfgang Knauss, of the California Institute of Technology, is selected to receive the 2010 Timoshenko Medal.

Professor Nicolas Triantafyllidis, of Ecole Polytechnique and the University of Michigan, is selected to receive the 2010 Warner T. Koiter Medal.

Professor Rohan Abeyaratne, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is selected to receive the 2010 Daniel C. Drucker Medal.

Professor Herbert Hui, of Cornell University, has been named the 2011 recipient of The Adhesion Society Award for Excellence in Adhesion Science, Sponsored by 3M.

The Award will be presented during the 34th Annual Meeting of The Adhesion Society in Savannah, GA, USA, 13-16 February 2011.

Frederick F. Lange, Professor of Materials, of the University of California at Santa Barbara, passed away suddenly on Friday, in Tucson, after watching his daughter defend her PhD.

Subra Suresh, the Dean of Engineering, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is in line to become the next Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), according to this post at Science.

The NSF director must be confirmed by the Senate, although it would be unusual for a nominee to attract any opposition.

Iain Finnie passed away in December. At the time he was the James Fife Professor Emeritus U.C. Berkeley Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Iain had an amazing number of contributions spanning diverse area of mechanics. To the best of my recollection:

C. S. Desai Is Recipient of the 2009 Nathan M. Newmark Medal

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~csdesai/

Regents’ Professor Chandra Desai has been awarded the 2009 Nathan M.
Newmark Medal by the Structural Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Institutes of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Congratulations to Prof. Yonggang Huang who has been selected to appear on ISIHighlyCited.com because of his exceptional citation count in the field of Engineering.

http://hcr3.isiknowledge.com/author.cgi?&link1=Browse&link2=Results&id=6498

A growing number of mechanicians are entering the field of soft materials, such as polymers, gels, and tissues. While they interact with researchers in technical societies traditionally identified with the field, they also maintain connection with researchers in applied mechanics.

With great pleasure I inform you that Jerrold E. Marsden, of Caltech, are selected to receive the 2010 Thomas K. Caughey Dynamics Award.

With great pleasure I inform you that Yoichiro Matsumoto, of the University of Tokyo, is selected to receive the 2010 Ted Belytschko Applied Mechanics Award.

Harley T. Johnson has just been selected to receive the 2010 Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award.

ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress
Orlando, Florida, November 17, 2009

Reminiscences and Reflections of a Mechanician by Luck

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Xi Chen, of Columbia University, has graciously agreed to be a new Editor of the iMechanica Journal Club.  Xi is one of the earliest active users of iMechanica (user number 15), and has played a large role in shaping the development of iMechanica.  He has a broad vision for mechanics, and has made contributions to diverse topics.  in 2008, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

It is with deep sorrow that we inform you that Jim Knowles passed away today.

Zhigang Suo , Allen E. and Marilyn M. Puckett Professor of Mechanics and Materials at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), founder and architect of iMechanica , has been honored with a Humboldt Research Award .

Professor Huajian Gao, Brown University, will give the Robert Henry Thurston Lecture at the 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress, Orlando, Florida.  His lecture “Nanomechanics of biological systems - What can we learn from nature about hierarchical materials?” will be in room Euro 10, on the 3rd floor at the Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel (conference hotel), at 10am, November 16, Monday.

L. Mahadevan, of Harvard University, is among this year's recipients of The MacArthur Genius Grant.  Congratulations!

Tony Evans passed away on Wednesday after a long and valiant fight against cancer.  He was Alcoa Professor of Materials, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Center for Multifunctional Materials and Structures at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

With a generous gift from the Haythornthwaite Foundation, the ASME Applied Mechanics Division will award grants to students presenting their own work at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE 2009).  The grant will reimburse travel expenses and registration fees, up to $1,000 per student, for up to 10 students.