On Friday, April 25th, 2008, the 20th Annual Melosh Competition for the Best Student Paper in Finite Element Analysis was held at Duke University.  The competition resulted in a tie between Ludovic Chamoin (of the University of Texas, Austin) and Irina Kalashnikova (of Stanford University).   Here is a picture of the 2008 Melosh Medalists with the judges, Leo Franca and Nicolas Moes:

 From L to R: Leo Franca, Ludovic Chamoin, Irina Kalashnikova, Nicolas Moes.  

Here is a recent work on the Poisson's ratio of carbon nanotube sheet [1]. From the experimental results, the researchers found that the Poisson's ratio could change from 0.06 to -0.20 as the content of MWNTs increasing from 0~100%. The interesting zero Poisson's ratio and auxetic materials were thus found.  

Ref. [1] Sign Change of Poisson's Ratio for Carbon Nanotube Sheets. Science 25 April 2008: 504-507

Ying Li

Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University

I want to get some information about layered material and its property and nutural plane in bi metal plate while bending.

A post-doc position on multiscale simulation of cell contact and adhesion shall be available this coming Fall at UC Berkeley. We are seeking for a person who has experience and background on finite element computations, especially in cell contact/adhesion modeling and simulation or finite deformation simulations.

Anyone who is interested in the position please send an email, resume, and reference to li [at] ce.berkeley.edu (li[at]ce[dot]berkeley[dot]edu)

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.

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 [at] mail.utexas.edu (kravi[at]mail[dot]utexas[dot]edu) for more information. 

Summer School on "Modeling and Computation in Biomechanics"

PhD Position: Solid Mechanics/Biomechanics at KTH-Stockholm

A four to five-year PhD position focusing on the analysis of multi-scale phenomena in diseased blood vessels including atherosclerotic plaques has recently been opened at KTH Solid Mechanics. The position is fully supported by the Swedish Research Council.