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   This is a stress modeling position in TI's research
organization Silicon Technology Development (SiTD). The opening is
immediate and the position is filling very fast. Minimum requirement:
MS degree in the following fields: Mechanical Engineering, Physics,
Materials Science or Engineering Mechanics. PhD degree is preferred. 
Please email your resume to Jie-Hua (Jeff) Zhao at jhzhao@ti.com or
Darvin Edwards at rvin@ti.com. Call Jeff at 972-995-8851 for detail.

When an electric voltage is applied across the thickness of a thin layer of an dielectric elastomer, the layer reduces its thickness and expands its area. This electrically induced deformation can be rapid and large, and is potentially useful as soft actuators in diverse technologies. Recent experimental and theoretical studies have shown that, when the voltage exceeds some critical value, the homogenous deformation of the layer becomes unstable, and the layer deforms into a mixture of thin and thick regions.

This has reference to (only) the *last paragraph* in Prof. Harry Lewis' recent post, found at: node/1423#comment-2880.

The reason I write the present post is because I always seem to have had a view of inventing, learning, or teaching mathematics that is remarkably at odds with what Prof. Lewis' last paragraph *seems* to imply.

Postdoctoral positions are available in the Micro and Nano Mechanics group led by Prof. Wei Cai in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University.  [Link]

You are cordially invited to submit an abstract to the symposium on “Emerging Methods To Understand Mechanical Behavior” at 2008 TMS annual meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 9-13, 2008.  

In a piezoelectric material an applied uniform strain can induce an electric polarization (or vice-versa). Crystallographic considerations restrict this technologically important property to non-centrosymmetric systems. It can be shown both mathematically and physically, that a non-uniform strain can potentially break the inversion symmetry and induce polarization even in non-piezoelectric dielectrics.

We invite you to participate in the upcoming Workshop on Materials Characterization for Nanoscale Reliability, to take place 14-16 August, 2007 at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Details are posted at http://www.boulder.nist.gov/div853/Nanoscale_Reliability_workshop/index.htm.

Given below is a sequence that might properly address the question of what to teach in the first (and the only) UG couse on strength of materials or solid mechanics.

0. Note: It's a mistake to believe that the contents for such a course can be covered in a linear fashion. Apply the spiral theory of knowledge and revisit certain concepts again and again: e.g., the concepts of stress, strain, fields, BV problems, theoretical structure, etc.

1. Introduction:

I wish that this thought had come to me earlier, so that I could have posted it on April First.  No, I'm unaware of such a program.  Instead, Harvard faculty have just emerged from a multi-year review of curriculum, and reaffirmed the commitment to liberal education, after voting out a president not too long ago.

From Dr. Qizhi Xiao :

We are looking for several new permanent staffs, including software developers with solid background on mechanics and good programming skills. the detailed information about the posts can be found from

http://www.lusas.com/joboffers.html

The following is the information for software developers:

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LUSAS Senior Software Engineer (Ref SSE-W)

2007 Alan T. Waterman Award Winner

Peidong Yang

The National Science Foundation’s Highest Honor

Mathematical Modelling & Computational Methods in Solid Mechanics

26th August - 1st September 2007

University of Glasgow

 The Koiter-Sanders-Budiansky bending strain measure and a nonlinear generalization

 We know from strength of materials that non-uniform stretching of fibers along the cross section of a beam produces bending moments. But does this situation necessarily correspond to a 'bending' deformation? For that matter, what do we exactly mean kinematically when we talk about a bending deformation?