MEET THE MEDALIST

Mary Boyce

2015 Engineering Science Medalist

Mary C. Boyce is Dean of Engineering and Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Prior to joining Columbia, Dean Boyce served on the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for over 25 years, leading the Mechanical Engineering Department from 2008 to 2013. Her research focuses on materials and mechanics, particularly in the areas of molecular and nanomechanics of polymers and soft composites, both those that are man-made and those formed naturally. Her leadership in the field of the mechanics of materials has expanded understanding of the interplay between micro-geometry and the inherent physical behavior of a material, which has led to innovative hybrid material designs with novel properties. Models and results from her group have the potential to influence a range of industrial and academic fields from polymer processing to composite material design, tire mechanics, protective armor designs, and transformative meta-material design. She is well known for her collaborative work and leadership in overseeing research teams that bring together faculty from different departments and universities and is the author of more than 150 archival journal publications with her group.

L. Gary Leal

2015 Taylor Medalist

L. Gary Leal is the Warren & Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is known for his research work in the dynamics of complex fluids.

Leal began his academic career in 1970 as an Assistant Professor in chemical engineering at California Institute of Technology. He became Full Professor in 1978. During 1986-1989, he was Chevron Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering. In 1989, Leal joined University of California, Santa Barbara as Professor and Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Leal’s research covers a wide range of topics in fluid dynamics, including dynamics of complex fluids, such as polymeric liquids, emulsions, polymer blends, and liquid crystalline polymers. He also works on large-scale computer simulation of complex fluid flows. Leal and his coworkers made pioneering contributions to the study of drop deformation under different flow conditions. They have developed a scheme based on a finite difference approximation of the equations of motion, applied on a boundary-fitted orthogonal curvilinear coordinate system, inside and outside the drop.[3][4] Leal has published more than 250 papers on fluid dynamics. He has directed 55 Ph.D. thesis in various topics in fluid dynamics. Several of his students have gone on to become professors at prestigious universities including Howard Stone who is currently at Princeton and Gerald Fuller at Stanford. Leal comes from a long line of researchers that can be traced back from mentor to mentor all the way to Sir Isaac Newton.

Huajian Gao

2015 Prager Medalist

Huajian Gao received his B.S. degree from Xian Jiaotong University of China in 1982, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He served on the faculty of Stanford University between 1988 and 2002, and as Professor and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Germany between 2001 and 2006. He is now Walter H. Annenberg University Professor of Brown University.

Professor Gao has a background in engineering science and applied mechanics. His current research interests are focused on nanomechanics of engineering and biological systems, including mechanical properties and behaviors of bone, gecko, cell, protein, DNA, carbon nanotubes, thin films and nanocrystalline materials. He has more than 25 years of research experience with more than 300 publications