ASME AMR Podcasts

Prof. Ken Liechti of University of Texas at Austin is an award-winning authority on the mechanics of interfaces, describing bonding, unbonding, and crack propagation using innovative experimental techniques with applications to thin film mechanics and graphene transfer. Pipe Major Emeritus of the Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums band out of Austin, Liechti speaks in this interview of his commitment to carrying on the traditions of his Scottish heritage, of building unique devices for uncovering the hidden science of interfacial fracture, and of his experiences articulating the value of mechanics in interdisciplinary collaborations.

Prof. Wei Chen of Northwestern University is a pillar of the ASME design automation and design engineering communities and an exceptionally prolific contributor to the science of engineering design since obtaining her PhD in 1995. This AMR audio interview reflects on her long record of professional service, most recently as Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Design, and her perspectives on the power of interdisciplinary collaboration in promoting advances in predictive science, the integration of design in undergraduate engineering curricula, and how consumer choice may be influenced by purposeful design.

Recognized by NASA as a giant in heat transfer research, Prof. Simon Ostrach received the inaugural ASME Heat Transfer Division Memorial Award in 1975 and attained membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 1978 for his fundamental discoveries in the field of buoyancy-driven convection. This AMR audio interview paints a remarkable picture of six decades of intellectual leadership and advocacy, including his work as principal investigator on two NASA Spacelab missions in 1992 and 1995 that investigated surface-tension driven convection under microgravity conditions, his commitment to the rigorous integration of research and design, and his, at one time, insatiable appetite for the thrills of weightless flight on the NASA “Vomit Comet.”

Prof. Rodney Clifton is among the pioneers in the development of experimental techniques for characterizing high-strain-rate material response, recognized with membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 1989 and the ASME Timoshenko Medal in 2000. This AMR audio interview tells his story from a modest background in a one-room country school, through his labor on the early construction of Interstate 80 in Nebraska, to research on computational techniques for wave propagation in elastic-plastic materials, innovative approaches to characterizing the viscoelastic response of vocal folds, and a life-long commitment to teaching and learning.

Prof. Thomas J.R. Hughes is a leading authority in engineering science and applied mechanics, recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to the computer-aided analysis of problems in fluid and solid mechanics. This AMR audio interview explores his experiences at the interfaces between research and design, academia and industry, and innovation and integration, his unique combination of gumption and curiosity, and how a flailing fire hose may have inspired a revolution in vascular surgery.

Prof. Gábor Stépán is the 2015 recipient of the ASME Thomas K. Caughey Dynamics Award in recognition of his seminal contributions to the analysis of stability of delay-differential equations with application to machine-tool vibrations, robot dynamics and control, wheel shimmy, and human balancing. This AMR audio interview depicts a research and educational career grounded in a love for applied mathematics and a desire for industrial relevance. It tells of his experiences with mainstreaming the counterintuitive effects of time delay, navigating a developing historical and geopolitical context at the conclusion of the cold war, and inspiring new generations of engineers to integrate practice and theory. 

Prof. Melany Hunt's research concerns the dynamics of particulate materials in dry or liquid-saturated environments with application to problems in industrial and geophysical processes. This AMR audio interview explores a high-impact career in science and engineering research, education, and administration, including her perspectives on the immersion of students in undergraduate research, innovative use of online course material, and unique student-oriented curricula, as well as the potential benefits of critically revisiting accepted scientific wisdom, and the challenge of capturing the sound of booming sand dunes after a good rain.

Prof. Julia Greer is a highly accomplished innovator in the area of nanoscale materials science and mechanics whose work has been recognized by the Sia Nemat-Nasser ASME Early Career Award, the Materials, Metals, and Minerals Society Early Career Faculty Award, and the Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator Medal. This AMR audio interview explores her pioneering contributions to the science of architectured hierarchical micro- and nanostructures, her engagement in high-impact outreach and translational research, her growth as a professional pianist, and the difficulty of rapping about nanoscale plasticity while playing a Bach partita.

Prof. Igor Mezic applies advanced methods of nonlinear dynamics and ergodic theory to the study of robust uncertainty management in complex networks and data assimilation in geophysical fluid dynamics. This AMR audio interview describes his path to a career of cutting-edge scientific research and engineering education, including his leadership in university-industry partnerships, his development of large-data diagnostic tools for forecasting coastal contamination from the 2010 Gulf oil spill, and his work on developing a curriculum in building energy efficiency.

Prof. Edwin Kreuzer is the President of the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg, Germany, and former President of Hamburg University of Technology. This AMR audio interview describes his innovation of computer-aided methods in the analysis of multibody systems, his exploration of the nonlinear dynamics of airship-borne mechanical cranes and underwater robotic vehicles, and his perspectives on the need to train students to make creative use of fundamental knowledge of engineering science in service to society.

Prof. Zhigang Suo is the recipient of the 2012 William Prager Medal from the Society of Engineering Science and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. This AMR audio interview describes his pursuit to bring fundamental principles of deformation, fracture, diffusion, and thermodynamics to the creation of cutting-edge knowledge in the modeling and design of polymer gels and lithium-ion batteries, as well as his commitment to traditional and novel forms of scientific collaboration, including as co-founder of the iMechanica website and promoter of scientific exchange and mutual understanding between the US and China.

Prof. Katia Bertoldi is the recipient of the Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award from ASME and a Journal of Applied Mechanics Paper Award, both in 2014. This AMR audio interview explores her professional development, experiences, and insights as a student and later academic researcher and mentor, and describes her contributions to the accidental and purposeful invention of engineered materials with local structural properties that govern macroscopic material response, with applications to energy dissipation, energy focusing, and wave guiding.

Prof. Stuart Antman has made fundamental contributions to the development and application of methods for analysis of motion and instability of elastic and plastic bodies. This AMR audio interview describes a career of navigating the Timoshenko and Truesdell traditions of solid mechanics, the developing interface between mechanics and advanced mathematics both within the U.S. and internationally, and mentoring students to choose a path of self-reliance and opportunity for impact.

Prof. Markus Buehler of Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the 2012 recipient of the Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to computational materials science research, including the use of molecular-based multiscale modeling to study the mechanical properties of spider webs. This AMR audio interview features his personal reflections on the integration of research and education, the relationship between materials science modeling and musical composition, and his path to a career in science and academia.

Prof. Howard Stone of Princeton University is the recipient of the 2008 G.K. Batchelor Prize, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has authored some 300 journal publications focused on fundamental problems in low-Reynolds number flows, using a combination of theory, computer-based modeling, and experiments. This AMR audio interview features his personal reflections on the excitement of disseminating scientific research to the general public through yearly holiday lectures at Harvard and Princeton, on the nature of scientific discovery, and the joys and challenges of teaching.

Prof. Avram Bar Cohen of the University of Maryland is a leading expert in thermal packaging of micro and nanosystems, and a forward thinker on technological leadership, forecasting, and management. He is an honorary member and Fellow of the ASME and a recent recipient of the 75th Anniversary Medal of ASME's Heat Transfer Division in recognition of service and contributions far beyond the call of duty. This AMR audio interview features his personal reflections on cutting edge research in thermal management and miniaturization, a career of service to the applied mechanics community, the needs for flexible funding and training mechanisms, and the Brooklyn soccer leagues.

Prof. David Barnett of Stanford University is the recipient of the 2012 A.C. Eringen Medal from the Society of Engineering Science in recognition of sustained outstanding achievements in Engineering Science, including significant archival publications on topics related to the anisotropic elastic theory of crystal defects, waves in anisotropic elastic solids, non-destructive evaluation of residual stresses using ultrasonics, thermodynamics of stressed solids, modeling of diffusion in fuel cell membranes, and modeling of capacitance of atomic force microscope tips. This AMR audio interview features his personal reflections on applied mechanics and engineering science research, and the opportunities and rewards of a professional career in academia.

Prof. Philip Holmes is an internationally prominent mathematician and engineer whose fundamental contributions to the theory and applications of nonlinear dynamical systems span solid and fluid mechanics, animal locomotion, neuroscience, and cognition. This AMR audio interview describes an unconventional path from writing poetry in the Yorkshire Dales to writing the seminal textbook Nonlinear Oscillations, Dynamical Systems, and Bifurcations of Vector Fields with John Guckenheimer, for which the authors were awarded the American Mathematical Society Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition in 2013.             

Prof. Karl Johan Åström is a pioneer and statesman in the fields of automatic, adaptive, and computer-aided control engineering and system identification, whose fundamental contributions to scholarly and applied research have been uniformly recognized. This AMR audio interview describes his experiences at the interface between academic research and industrial applications, a story of how fortune rewards the bold, and the risks of sending feedback control signals over large distances across manual phone exchanges.        

Prof. Anthony Bloch of the University of Michigan is a leading scholar and contributor to the fields of geometric mechanics and control of mechanical systems with symmetry, including as co-author of an influential graduate textbook on nonholonomic mechanics and control. This AMR audio interview features his personal recollections of a wonderful story of fundamental discovery in dynamics and control, scientific friends and collaborators, the growth of a technical community, and remarkable connections between applications of engineering dynamics and the mathematics of symmetry and constraints.