mechanician

With a great many ties to VT, I have been following the tragic shootings there closely. While my former student (Nakhiah Goulbourne) and my former department head (Dick Benson) are both safe, I am afraid we may have lost one of our own this morning. From an AP report, a student stated that the instructor teaching a 9:05am mechanics class in 204 Norris Hall was killed. According to the timetable of classes at VT, this instructor would have been Liviu Librescu. I certainly hope the AP's report is wrong. As someone very interested in shell theories, I have spoken with Prof. Librescu many times and followed his work. His loss would be a great loss to our community.

Just a reminder that this Sunday, April 15 will be exactly 300 years since Leonhard Euler was born.

I am sure many mechanicians will toast this weekend on this extraordinnary anniversary to the person who laid down much of the foundations in mathematics and mechanics.

Some of the related links on the web are:

http://www.maa.org/Euler/

http://www.euler-2007.ch/en/

From this Modern Mechanix scan of a 4 page article from the 1924 issue of Popular mechanics, we learn about Lincoln, the inventor!

Please joint me in congratulating Dr. Stelios Kyriakides’ (Editor of International Journal of Solids and Structures) for his election to the United States National Academy of Engineering.

We have just heard the great news that our colleague (iMechanician number 12), Joost Vlassak, has been promoted to Full Professor with Tenure at Harvard.

Professor Horacio Espinosa at Northwestern University is awarded the 2007 Society of Engineering Sciences (SES) Young Investigator Medal in recognition of his outstanding work in the field of Engineering Science and Nanomaterials. For more information on Professor Espinosa's research, please visit his group website.

(A message from Dave Barnett) George Herrmann passed away yesterday in Switzerland -- quickly, quietly, and peacefully.

Attached is an article by Jia-shi Yang in memory of Professor Mindlin. It will be presented at the Fifth International Conference on Nonlinear Mechanics at Shanghai, China, June 11-14, 2007.