If you are interested in mechanics—including dynamics, fluids, and solids—we encourage you to attend the Mechanics Seminar Series. Our seminar features distinguished faculty and researchers each semester. Mechanics seminars in the 2024-25 academic year are organized by Associate Professor Ying Li and sponsored by the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering.
Seminars are held most Fridays from 12:05 to 12:55 p.m. and some Thursdays. To subscribe to email announcements of upcoming seminars and other relevant news for mechanicians at UW-Madison, join the Mechanics Google Group. Log in to groups.google.com using your UW Net ID. Search for mechanics@g-groups.wisc.edu and request to join.
If you are a UW-Madison student and would like to take the seminar for credit, it is offered as a 1-credit course under BME 601, CivEngr 649, and EMA 601.
Fall 2024 Seminar Schedule
Fridays, 12:05 to 12:55 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering, unless otherwise stated
September 13 — Kathryn Matlack, Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
September 20 — Brittany Coats, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Utah
September 27 — Marcia Cooper, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University
October 4 — Michael Wadas, Computational and Data-Driven Fluid Dynamics Lab, Caltech
October 11 — Vikram Deshpande, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
October 18 — Nanshu Lu, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Texas at Austin
October 25 — Yaning Li, College of Engineering, Northeastern University
November 1 — No Seminar (Course meeting for students enrolled in the class)
November 8 — Michael Shelley, Department of Mathematics, New York University – Courant
November 15 — No Seminar (Course meeting for students enrolled in the class)
November 22 — Grégoire Winckelmans, Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering, Université Catholique de Louvai
November 29 — No Seminar (Fall Break)
December 6 — Yuhang Hu, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech
Seminar Series Archive
Each semester, experts from on campus and around the country give public talks to our faculty, staff and students. Here are lists of our past speakers.
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Spring 2024 speakers
Fridays, 12:05 to 12:55 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering, unless otherwise stated
Feb. 8† (Thursday at 4 pm, 1106 ME) – Gianluca Iaccarino, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford
March 1 — Cong Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa
March 8* — Michelle Johnson, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
March 14 (Thursday at 12 pm, 2180 Mechanical Engineering Bldg) — Deva Chan, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University
March 15 — Raul Cal, Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Portland State University
March 22 — Traian Dumitricã, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota
March 29 —No Seminar (Spring Break)
April 5‡— Shirley Dyke, Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University
April 12 — Yunus Alapan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
April 19 (different room: 106 Engineering Research Bldg) — Lucy Zhang, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and U.S. National Science Foundation
April 26 — Jon Estrada, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
May 3 — John Rudnicki, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University
Seminars marked † are hosted by the Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate Seminar series.
Seminars marked * are co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Inclusion in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI).
Seminars marked ‡ are co-hosted with the Sustainable Materials and Structures Seminar series.
Fall 2023 speakers
Fall 2023 Seminar Schedule
Fridays, 12:05 to 12:55 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering
Sept. 8 — Ramathasan Thevamaran, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Sept. 15 — Jennifer Franck, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Sept. 22 — Rui Ni, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Sept. 29 — Emma Lejeune, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University
Oct. 6 — Frederic Dias, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College Dublin
Oct. 13 — Midwest Mechanics Seminar: Dan Henningson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Oct. 20 —No Seminar (Course meeting for students enrolled in the class)
Oct. 27 — Horacio D. Espinosa, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University
Nov. 3* — Matilde Sánchez-Peña, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo
Nov. 10 — John Borg, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Marquette University
Nov. 17 — Sally Bane, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University
Dec. 1* — Carolin Curtze, Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska Omaha
Dec. 8 — Robert Kuether, Component Science & Mechanics Department, Sandia National Laboratories
Seminars marked by * are co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Inclusion in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI).
Spring 2023 speakers
Spring 2023 Seminar Schedule
Fridays, 12:05 to 12:55 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering (unless stated otherwise)
Jan. 27†—Midwest Mechanics Seminar: Jay Humphrey, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University
Feb. 3—No Seminar (Course meeting for students enrolled in the class)
Feb. 10—Kyoo-Chul Kenneth Park, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern
Feb. 17—Ryan Truby, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern
Feb. 23 (Thursday, 4:00-5:00pm, ME 1106)*—Sergio Pellegrino, Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Feb. 24†—Jinlong Wu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison
March 3—No Seminar (Course meeting for students enrolled in the class)
March 10—Tsampikos Kottos, Department of Physics, Wesleyan University
March 17—No Seminar | Spring Recess
March 23 (Thursday, 4:00-5:00pm, ME 1106)*—Alexander Alexeev, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
March 24—No Seminar (Course meeting for students enrolled in the class)
March 30 (Thursday, 4:00-5:00pm, ME 1106)*—Beverley McKeon, Theodore van Karman Professor of Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology
March 31—Midwest Mechanics Seminar: George Haller, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich
April 7†—Scott Grutzik, Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer, Sandia National Laboratories
April 14†—Midwest Mechanics Seminar: Pradeep Guduru, Professor of Engineering, Brown University
April 21 (This week only: different room, 106 Engineering Research Building)—Louis Cattafesta, Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology
April 27 (Thursday, 4:00-5:00pm, ME 1106)*—Christian Linder, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
April 28†—Sinan Keten, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University
May 5—Craig Hill, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department, University of Minnesota Duluth
Seminars marked by * are co-hosted with the Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate Seminar series.
Seminars marked by † are co-hosted with the Structural Engineering Group in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Fall 2022 speakers
Fall 2022 Seminar Schedule
Fridays, 12:05 to 12:55 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering (unless stated otherwise)
Sept. 23—Saverio Spagnolie, Department of Mathematics, UW-Madison
Sept. 29 (note: Thursday, 12:05-12:55; 106 Engineering Research Building)—David Henann, Brown University
Oct. 7—Ying Li, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Oct. 14—Komal Chawla, Postdoctoral Researcher, Engineering Physics; Jizhe Cai, Postdoctoral Researcher, Engineering Physics
Oct. 21—Mike Graham, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, UW-Madison
Oct. 28—Josh Roth, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Nov. 4—Alexander McGhee, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering; Xiangyu Sun, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering
Nov. 11—Midwest Mechanics Seminar: Petros Koumoutsakos, Herbert S. Winokur, Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
Nov. 18—Aliza Abraham, Postdoctoral Researcher at Institut Recherche sur le Phénomènes Hors Equilibre
Nov. 25—No Seminar | Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec. 2—Ping Guo, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern
Dec. 9—Tim Colonius, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Caltech
Spring 2022 speakers
Spring 2022 Seminar Schedule
Fridays, 12:05 to 12:55 p.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering
Jan. 28—Seminar Course Organizational Meeting (for enrolled students only)
Feb. 4—Mario Trujillo, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Feb. 11—Melissa Green, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics,
University of Minnesota (remote seminar)
Feb. 18—Hannah Blum, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW-
Madison
Feb. 25—Student presentations: Abhishek Gupta, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison; Jin Yang, Postdoc, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
March 4—Student presentations: Peter Adamczyk Group, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
March 11—Student presentations: Claire Griesbach, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison; Dipul Chawla, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison
March 25—Clancy Rowley, Midwest Mechanics Seminar Series
April 1—Student presentations: Sudip Kunda, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison; Hridyesh Tewani, Graduate Student, Civil Engineering, UW-Madison
April 8—Student presentations: Kyle Seledic, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison; Noah Schmelzer, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison
April 15—Student presentations: Melissa Schmidt-Landin, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison; Rahul Gulati, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
April 22—Marc Geers, Midwest Mechanics Seminar Series (Different location for this week only: 106 Engineering Research Building)
April 29—James Rice, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison; Jing Zhang, Research Scientist, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
May 6—Mo Ansari, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison; Hyeyoung Koh, Graduate Student, Civil Engineering, UW-Madison
Fall 2021 speakers
Fall 2021 Seminar Schedule
Fridays, 11 to 11:50 a.m., 1106 Mechanical Engineering
Sept. 10—Seminar Course Organizational Meeting (for enrolled students only)
Sept. 17—Prof. Colleen Witzenburg, Biomedical Engineering, UW-Madison
Sept. 24—Canceled
Oct. 1—Prof. Ramathasan Thevamaran, Engineering Physics, UW-Madison
Oct. 8—Prof. Sage Kokjohn, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Oct. 15—Prof. L. Catherine Brinson, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University — Midwest Mechanics Seminar Speaker (HOST: Prof. R. Thevamaran)
Oct. 22—Prof. Caterina Lamuta, Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa (Host: Prof. Stephan Rudykh)
Oct. 29—Prof. Hiroki Sone, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW-Madison
Nov. 5—Prof. Venanzio Cichella, Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa (Host: Prof. Xiangru Xu)
Nov. 12—Student Talks:
- Claudio Meza-Valle, Ph.D. Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Jun (Jay) Zhang, Ph.D. Student, Biophysics Program
Nov. 19—Prof. Rachel Vitali, Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa (HOSTS: Prof. Peter Adamczyk and Prof. Corrine Henak)
Dec. 3—Student Talks:
- Alex Ames, Ph.D. Student, Engineering Mechanics
- Chris Noble, Ph.D. Student, Engineering Mechanics
- Bernardo Ribeiro, Ph.D. Student, Engineering Mechanics
Dec. 10—Prof. Owen Kingstedt, Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah (HOSTS: Prof. Jacob Notbohm and Prof. Christian Franck)
Spring 2021 speakers
For the spring 2021 semester, our virtual seminar speakers included:
Jan. 29—Introductory meeting (for enrolled students only)
Feb. 5—Prof. Corinne Henak, University of Wisconsin-Madison: “Cartilage fracture: mechanics and mechanobiology”
Feb. 12—Prof. Matt McDowell, Georgia Institute of Technology: “Chemo-Mechanics of Active Materials and Interfaces in Batteries”
Feb. 19—Prof. Ivan Christov, Purdue University: “Multiphysics problems at low Reynolds number: From deformable channels to spinning droplets”
Feb. 26—Dr. Eric Parish, Sandia National Laboratories, “Recent advancements in projection-based reduced-order modeling”
March 5—Prof. Ivan Bermejo-Moreno, University of Southern California, “Interactions of shock waves, turbulent boundary layers, and flexible panels”
March 12—Prof. Nimish Pujara, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Shape- and scale-dependent coupling between non-spherical particles and velocity gradients in turbulence”
March 19—Prof. Margaret Byron, Pennsylvania State University: “Scale-dependent complexity in locomotion: swimming across scales”
March 26—Prof. Pavana Prabhakar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Architected Composites for Resilient Structures”
April 2—No seminar
April 9—Prof. Karen Flack, U.S. Naval Academy (Midwest Mechanics Seminar Speaker), “Prediction of Drag for Rough Wall Boundary Layer Flows”
April 16—Graduate student talks
Fall 2020 speakers
For the spring 2020 semester, our speakers included:
Sept. 11—Prof. Jacob Notbohm, Harvey D. Spangler Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, UW-Madison; “Mechanics Across Scales in Biological Materials” (A special preview of his Society for Experimental Mechanics Springer/Nature Publishing Young Investigator Lecture)
Sept. 18—Prof. Richard Wiebe, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, “Characterizing and Exploiting Nonlinear Dynamics and Instabilities in Structural Engineering”
Sept. 25—Three short talks from Prof. Samantha Daly and two of her research group members at University of California, Santa Barbara:
- Bhavana Swaminathan, PhD Candidate in Materials Science, UCSB, “Micromechanical Characterization of Damage Accumulation in Ceramic Matrix Composites”
- Caelin Muir, PhD Candidate in Materials Science, UCSB, “Large scale statistical methods to evaluate damage accumulation in SiC/SiC composites”
- Prof. Samantha Daly, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UCSB, “Using Data-Driven Approaches for High Throughput Experiment and Analyses”
Oct. 2—Two short talks by researchers in Prof. Christian Franck’s Group:
- Selda Buyukozturk, Visiting Scholar, UW-Madison Department of Mechanical Engineering/ Doctoral Candidate in Materials Science and Engineering, Brown University, “Expanding Inertial Microcavitation Rheometry to Cover Large Material Stretches in Soft Materials”
- Dr. Jin Yang Postdoc, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Dynamic Rugae Strain Localizations and Instabilities in Soft Viscoelastic Materials During Inertial Microcavitation”
Oct. 9—Prof. Janice Barton, Professor of Experimental Mechanics, Bristol Composites Institute (ACCIS), Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Civil, Aerospace, and Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol, UK; “Adventures in Thermomechanics: from slow to fast, from expensive to low cost and across length scales” (A special reprise of her Society for Experimental Mechanics Murray Lecture)
Oct. 16—Prof. Sung Hoon Kang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Institute for NanoBioTechnology Johns Hopkins University, “Architected materials with adaptive energy absorption and bioinspired self-adaptable materials & medical devices”
Oct. 23—Two short talks:
- Koichiro Tanaka, graduate student in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, “Interface Engineering to Enhance the Mechanical Performance of Thin Metal Films Deposited on Polymer Substrates”
- Dr. Scott Grutzik, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Component Science and Mechanics, Sandia National Laboratories, “R-Curve Measurements of silicon nitride, glass ceramic, and PZT”
Oct. 30—Short talks from Prof Wendy Crone’s research group members at University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Alana Stempien, Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Quantifying Mechanical Strain in Stem Cell Derived Cardiomyocytes in a Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Disease Model”
- Prof. Wendy Crone, Karen Thompson Medhi Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Stem Cell Derived Cardiomyocytes and Cardiac Fibroblasts in a Micropatterned Co-Culturing Platform”
Nov. 6—Short talks by researchers in Prof. Cosme Furlong group at Worcester Polytechnic Institute:
- Haimi Tang, “Holographic Measurement of Semi-transparent Tympanic Membrane Shape Using Multiple Angle Illuminations”
- Haimi Tang, “High speed Holographic Shape and Vibration Measurement of the Semi-transparent Tympanic Membrane”
- Daniel Ruiz-Cadalso, Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, “Design and rapid prototyping of fiber-optic-based force sensors by two-photon polymerization”
Nov. 13—Short talks from Prof R. Thevamaran’s research group members at University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Claire Griesbach, Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Mechanics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Strength and Toughness of Gradient-Nano-Grained Silver Created via High-Velocity Impact of Single-Crystal Silver Microcubes”
- Prof. Ramathasan Thevamaran, Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Emergence of Exceptional Points in PT-Symmetric Fractal Elastodynamic Metamaterials”
Spring 2020 speakers
For the spring 2020 semester, our speakers included:
Jan. 24—Introductory Lecture (for enrolled students only)
Jan. 31—Prof. Leslie Smith, Professor, Department of Mathematics & Department of Engineering Physics, UW-Madison
Feb. 7—Dr. Paul Veers, Senior Research Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Feb. 14—Prof. Tracey Holloway, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UW-Madison
Feb. 21—Dr. Jin Yang, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Feb. 28—(1) Kate Lyons, PhD Student, Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics Graduate Program, UW-Madison and (2) Kyusic Park, PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program, UW-Madison
March 6—Dr. Nathan Bechle, Computer & Electronics Engineer, Forest Products Laboratory
March 13—Prof. Marc Killpack, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University
March 20—Spring break; no seminar
Due to COVID-19, remaining seminars will be rescheduled for future dates.
Fall 2019 speakers
For the fall 2019 semester, our speakers included:
Sept 20—Student talks: Ahmet Deniz Usta (Eriten Lab), graduate student in mechanical engineering, UW-Madison; Aditya Nagaraj (Min Lab), graduate student in mechanical engineering, UW-Madison
Sept. 27—Prof. Mike Graham, Chemical and Biological Engineering, UW-Madison
Oct. 4—Prof. Krishnan Suresh, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Oct. 11—Prof. Nadia Lapusta, CalTech (Midwest Mechanics Seminar Speaker)
Oct. 18—Prof. Nimish Pujara, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW-Madison
Oct. 25—Student talks: Alana Stempien (Crone Lab), graduate student in biomedical engineering, UW-Madison; Vinay Damodaran (Prabhakar Lab), graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, UW-Madison
Nov. 1—Dr. Jacqueline Chen, Sandia National Laboratories (Midwest Mechanics Seminar Speaker)
Nov. 8—Student talks: Dr. Jizhe Cai (Thevamaran Lab), postdoc in engineering physics, UW-Madison; Yanghao “Harry” Fang (Thevamaran Lab), graduate student in materials science and engineering, UW-Madison
Nov. 15—Prof. Jenn Stroud Rossmann (co-sponsored by Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute, WISELI)
Nov. 22—Prof. Nathan Salowitz, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Thanksgiving—No Seminar
Dec. 6—Dr. Phillip Reu, Sandia National Laboratories
Spring 2019 speakers
For the spring 2019 semester, our speakers included:
Feb. 1—Student talks: David Rutkowski, graduate student in Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison; Alex Dawson-Elli, graduate student in Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
Feb. 8—Student talks: Alex Ames, graduate student in Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison; Chris Noble, graduate student in Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison
Feb. 15—Prof. Ahmed Elbanna, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Feb. 22—Prof. Karen Kasza, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University
March 1—Prof. Jose Pincheira, Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW-Madison
March 8—Prof. Kevin Hart, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical, Milwaukee School of Engineering
March 15—Prof. Melih Eriten, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical, Engineering, UW-Madison
March 22—Spring break/no seminar
March 29—Prof. Curt A. Bronkhorst, Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, UW-Madison
April 5—Engineering Expo
April 12—Prof. Igor Bargatin, Class of 1965 Term Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Univ. of Pennsylvania
April 19—Prof. Detlef Lohse, Professor, Dept. of Physics of Fluids, Univ. of Twente, The Netherlands (Midwest Mechanics Seminar Speaker)
April 26—Student talks: David Murgado, graduate student in Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison
May 3—Prof. Feng Zhao, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director, Dept. Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological Univ.
Spring 2018 speakers
For the spring 2018 semester, our speakers included:
Jan. 26—Meeting with all enrolled students
Feb. 2—Gustavo Parra-Montesinos, C.K. Wang Professor of Structural Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW-Madison
Feb. 9—John Considine, Materials Research Engineer, Forest Products Laboratory (Read a summary of this talk)
Feb. 16, 23—Student talks
March 2—Dan Negrut, Mead Witter Foundation Professor, Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison
March 9—Julien Meaud, Assistant Professor, The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
March 10—NOTE that Purdue is hosting the Midwest Society for Experimental Mechanics Symposium on March 10th. Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to attend.
March 16—Riccardo Bonazza, Professor, Engineering Physics, UW-Madison
March 23—Patrick Le Tallec, Professeur, Directeur du Laboratoire de Me?canique des Solides (Midwest Mechanics Speaker)
March 30—Spring break week; no seminar
April 6—Engineering EXPO; no seminar (volunteer)
April 13—Joe Shepherd, C. L. “Kelly” Johnson Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology (Midwest Mechanics Speaker)
April 20, 27—Student talks
Fall 2017 speakers
For the fall 2017 semester, our speakers included:
Sept. 8—No seminar
Sept. 15—Student talk: Christopher VanDamme, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics Program, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison: “The application and validation of reduced order models for computing the geometrically nonlinear response of hypersonic vehicles”
Sept. 22—Professor Chiara Daraio, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology (Midwest Mechanics Speaker): “Plant nanobionic materials for thermally active, structural woods and soft, artificial skins” (Read a summary of Chiara’s talk.)
Sept. 29—Professor John Dolbow, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University (Midwest Mechanics Speaker): “The Mechanics of the Surfactant?Driven Fracture of Particle Rafts and the Influence of Surface Tension”
Oct. 6—Professor Naomi Chesler, Professor and Vice Chair and Associate Chair of Faculty and Academic Staff Development, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UW-Madison: “Biomechanics of the pulmonary vasculature in healthy and diseased states”
Oct. 13—Aashrith Saraswathibhatla, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics Program, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison: “Force and Adhesion in the Cell Monolayer” and Aabhas Singh, Graduate Student, Engineering Mechanics Program, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin?Madison (Read a summary of Aashrith’s talk.)
Oct. 20—No seminar, Homecoming and Engineers’ Day
Oct. 27—Professor Matt Allen, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, UW-Madison: “Challenges in Modeling Friction and Contact at Interfaces in Structural Dynamics”
Nov. 3—Professor John Eaton, Charles Lee Powell Foundation Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University (Midwest Mechanics Speaker)
Nov. 10—Professor Darryl Thelen, Harvey D. Spangler Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison: “Gauging force by tapping tendons” (Read a summary of Darryl’s talk.)
Nov. 24—No seminar, Thanksgiving
Dec. 1—Dr. Ronald Sabo, Research Materials Engineer, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin: “Effect of Cellulose Nanomaterials on Polymer Structures and Properties”
Dec. 8—Vinay Damodaran, Graduate Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison