MMAE News

The textbook, entitled 'Introduction to Continuum Mechanics' treats solids and fluids in a balanced manner, using thermodynamic restrictions on the relation between applied forces and material responses. This unified approach can be appreciated by engineers, physicists, and applied mathematicians with some background in engineering mechanics. It has many examples and about 150 exercises for students to practice. The higher mathematics needed for a complete understanding is provided in the early chapters. This subject is essential for engineers involved in experimental or numerical modeling of materials behavior. Dr. Nair is a Fellow of the ASME, an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, and a member of the American Academy of Mechanics as well as Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi.

Jim Dally's positions of note include serving as dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island, professor at IIT, senior research engineer for the Armour Research Foundation, assistant director of research for Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute, and senior engineer at International Business Machines Corporation. He also held teaching positions at Cornell University and the U. S. Air Force Academy. He is currently Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dally is the author and co-author of twelve books, has published approximately 200 research papers, and holds five patents. He has served on a number of National Research Council committees and is a fellow of the ASME, SEM, and AAM. He is currently an independent consultant and president of College House Enterprises, LLC, a publisher of textbooks for engineering students incorporated in 1997.

After graduation, Bill Gross moved to California in early 1952 and worked in Douglas Aircraft's Santa Monica plant, where the commercial airliners of that period—primarily the DC-6 and DC-7—were produced. Gross began in the power plant section of engineering, installing engines, for which he and his colleagues designed the fuel, pneumatic, fire extinguishing, and engine controls systems, and the installation structures.

Gross conducted flight test and certification work on the early DC-7s and, in 1957, became lead engineer on the thrust reversers and engine exhaust noise "silencers" for the first DC-8s. In 1961, Gross was appointed as assistant chief power plant engineer and, in 1964, chief design engineer for the DC-9. When Douglas and McDonnell merged in 1967, Gross was appointed to the position of advanced program manager for the DC-10, its first wide-body transport. The program launched in 1968, with Gross serving as deputy to the vice president, a position he served until 1987 when he became president of the Douglas Aircraft Company component of McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

For the full article on MMAE's Alumni Recognition Awardees, please see our Vectors magazine.

One of the highest honors the institute bestows, the AIME Honorary Membership is awarded "in appreciation of outstanding service to the institute or in recognition of distinguished scientific or engineering achievement in the fields embracing the activities of AIME and its member societies."

Cramb is the author of more than 190 publications and two patents, and was the recipient of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Medal in 1985 and 1986 and the Robert Woolston Hunt Award of the Iron and Steel Society in 1987. He was named an Iron and Steel Society Professor in 1992 and was awarded the Benjamin Richard Teare Award at CMU for excellence in engineering education in 1995. Cramb was the recipient of the Posco Chair for Iron and Steelmaking at CMU in 1997 and was the president of the Iron and Steel Society in 2000. He was made a fellow of the Iron and Steel Society in 2000 and named the John Elliott lecturer of TMS/ISS in 2002. In 2003, he gave the Carnegie lecture for the Pittsburgh branch of ASM and was awarded the Benjamin Fairless Award of AIME, recognizing distinguished achievement in iron and steel production and ferrous metallurgy. Cramb became president of American Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Society in 2005. He also was chairman of the Un iversity Materials Council and a board member of ABET in 2005. In 2007, he gave the Henry Marion Howe lecture of AIME/AIST.

Gordon graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1939 and completed his master’s and doctorate degrees in metallurgy in 1949. During World War II, Gordon taught at MIT and worked as a group leader on the Manhattan Project. Following the war, he was in charge of physical metallurgy for the Atomic Energy Commission at MIT. He moved to Chicago in 1949 and, until his death in 2001, taught at both IIT and the University of Chicago. From 1966–1976, he provided strong leadership as chair of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at IIT. He was a dedicated and effective teacher and was noted particularly for his courses in thermodynamics, phase transformations, and structure-property relationships.

Gordon published more than 100 publications over his career, including the widely used text Principles of Phase Diagrams in Materials Systems, which was published in 1963, with a Japanese edition appearing in 1971. He made many significant contributions to scholarship in the areas of microstructural development in metals, particularly annealing behavior, and the deformation and failure of metals. As both a teacher and researcher, Gordon has received peer recognition with awards such as the Mathewson Gold Medal from the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers for the best scientific paper of the prior three years, and the Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher Award of the American Society of Metals.

The fellowship recipients were honored on Wednesday, October 21, at the ARCS Chicago Chapter Annual Awards Luncheon.

Duncan's investigation of turbulent boundary layers (air, water, etc., near walls and vehicle bodies) in IIT's unique high-speed low-noise wind tunnel facility will lead to better understanding of these complex physical phenomena and could bring tremendous fuel and material savings. His work has potential applications to aerospace and naval research, as well as weather, biological, automotive and common industrial applications. Duncan is also an enthusiastic participant in student leadership, journalism, government and university administration, and he'd like to combine these and his scholarly skills as an educator, focusing on the interface between technology and education in technical fields.

Joerger won the award in honor of his outstanding contribution to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) through his doctoral dissertation, "Carrier Phase GPS Augmentation Using Laser Scanners" and Using Low Earth Orbiting Satellites.? The award, which includes a $2000 honorarium, was presented at the ION's international GNSS symposium (ION GNSS-2009) in Savannah, GA, September 25, 2009.