Plenary Speakers

K.T. Ramesh

Alonzo G. Decker, Jr., Professor of Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

K.T. Ramesh, the Alonzo G. Decker, Jr., Professor of Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, is known for research in impact physics and the failure of materials under extreme conditions. Ramesh is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and holds joint appointments in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is the founding director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI), which addresses the ways in which people, structures and the planet interact with and respond to extreme environments.

Ramesh’s current research focuses on the design of materials for extreme conditions, the massive failure of rocks and ceramics, impact processes in planetary science, and impact biomechanics. He has written over 200 archival journal publications and is the author of the book “Nanomaterials: Mechanics and Mechanisms.”

Ramesh has received numerous research awards including the Murray Medal and the Lazan and Hetenyi awards, all from the Society for Experimental Mechanics. Ramesh is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Mechanics, the Society for Experimental Mechanics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He served as president of the Society of Engineering Science and has played a leadership role in other professional societies.

Ramesh received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University, in India, in 1982. He then studied at Brown University, where he received an ScM in Solid Mechanics in 1985, an ScM in Applied Mathematics in 1987, and a PhD in Solid Mechanics in 1988. Ramesh completed postdoctoral work in solid mechanics at the University of California, San Diego, before joining the Whiting School of Engineering faculty in 1988. He served as chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering from 1999 to 2002.

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Nadine Aubry

Dean of the College of Engineering, Northeastern University; University Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University; Provost and Senior Vice President, Tufts University

Dr. Nadine Aubry is Dean of the College of Engineering and University Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University, and was recently named Provost and Senior Vice President at Tufts University as of July 1, 2019. She has made contributions to fluid dynamics, particularly the reduced modeling of turbulence and advances to microfluidics. She was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the U.S. National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and was awarded the G.I. Taylor Medal from the Society of Engineering Science (SES). She currently serves as President of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), Vice Chair of the NAE Mechanical Engineering Section Committee, Chair of the NAE Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education Selection Committee, and on the International Science Council (ISC-“The global voice for science”), the NAE Council (governing board), the NAE Membership Policy Committee (MPC), and the Executive Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Section M (Engineering). In the past, her leadership positions have included Chair of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (APS/DFD), Chair of the National Academies’ U.S. National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNC/TAM), and Chair of the NAE Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Advisory Committee. Prior to joining Northeastern as Dean in 2012, Dr. Aubry was Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Aubry grew up in France and holds a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from Institut National Polytechnique (INP) Grenoble and a D.E.A. (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies) from Université Grenoble Alpes both in Mechanical Engineering in 1984, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University in 1987.

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Michael Thouless

Janine Johnson Weins Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Arthur F Thurnau Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Michael Thouless is the Janine Johnson Weins Professor of Engineering, and an Arthur F Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He graduated with a BA in engineering from Churchill College, Cambridge in 1981, and did graduate work on the creep of ceramics with Tony Evans in Materials Science at the University of California, Berkeley. After getting a PhD in 1984, he worked on the fracture of ceramic composites, and on the spalling of coatings and thin films at Berkeley and UCSB. In 1988, he moved to the Physical Sciences Department at IBM as a Research Staff Member, and developed a research program on interface mechanics and the mechanical properties of layered materials. In 1995 he joined the University of Michigan, where he has worked on the fracture of adhesive joints, the mechanical properties of coatings, the mechanics of adhesion and interfaces, and the development of cohesive-zone approaches for interfacial fracture. With collaborators at UM, he has also pioneered fracture-fabrication techniques for nano-scale devices, and developed novel design strategies for protection against blast and impact, and for protection against ice adhesion. During his career, he has published 160 papers and has 8 US and foreign patents. He was awarded an ScD from Cambridge University in 2009, and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the UK Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He held a visiting position at Qinghua University in 1994, was an Otto Mønsted Guest Professor at the Danish Technical University (2013-2014), and was an Overseas Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge in 2011 and in 2017-2018.

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