Alan Needleman (born September 2, 1944) is a professor of materials science & engineering at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. Prior to 2009, he was Florence Pirce Grant University Professor of

Mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...

of Solids and Structures at Brown University in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

Early life and education

Needleman received his B.S. from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1966, an M.S. and Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1967 and 1970 respectively, advised by John W. Hutchinson.

Research and career

He was an instructor and assistant professor in the Department of

Applied Mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

from 1970 to 1975. He was a professor of engineering at Brown University starting in 1975, and served as the dean of the Engineering Department from 1988 to 1991. He was the chair of the

Applied Mechanics Division The Applied Mechanics Division (AMD) is a division in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The AMD was founded in 1927, with Stephen Timoshenko being the first chair. The current AMD membership is over 5000, out of about 90,000 mem ...

. Needleman's main research interests are in the

computational modeling Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

deformation Deformation can refer to: * Deformation (engineering), changes in an object's shape or form due to the application of a force or forces. ** Deformation (physics), such changes considered and analyzed as displacements of continuum bodies. * Defor ...

and fracture processes in structural materials, in particular

metals A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typical ...

. A general objective is to provide quantitative relations between the measurable (and hopefully controllable) features of the materials' micro-scale structure and its macroscopic mechanical behavior. Ongoing research projects involve studies of ductile fracture and ductile-brittle transitions; crack growth in heterogeneous

microstructure Microstructure is the very small scale structure of a material, defined as the structure of a prepared surface of material as revealed by an optical microscope above 25× magnification. The microstructure of a material (such as metals, polymers ...

s with particular emphasis on the role of

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...

s; nonlocal and discrete dislocation plasticity; fatigue crack growth; and fast fracture in

brittle A material is brittle if, when subjected to stress, it fractures with little elastic deformation and without significant plastic deformation. Brittle materials absorb relatively little energy prior to fracture, even those of high strength. Br ...

solids. Professor Needleman often collaborates with

Viggo Tvergaard Viggo, also spelled Wiggo, is a Nordic male name. There are two main theories about its origins: * a latinised form of the Old Norse name Vigge, which is also found in the form of other Germanic names, such as Ludvig. It stems from old Norse 'vig ...

, John Hutchinson, Subra Suresh, and Erik van der Giessen among others in both materials science and

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...

Awards and honors

Needleman is a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, an honorary member of MECAMAT ( Groupe Français de Mecanique des Matériaux) and a foreign member of the Danish Center for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. He has been recognized by

Institute for Scientific Information The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysi ...

(ISI) Science Citation Index as a highly cited author both in

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

and in materials science. In 1994, his work on 3D modeling of metallic fracture was a finalist in the Science Category for the Computerworld- Smithsonian Award. In 2006 he was the recipient of both the

William Prager William Prager, (before 1940) Willy Prager, (May 23, 1903 in Karlsruhe – March 17, 1980 in Zurich) was a German-born US applied mathematician. In the field of mechanics he is well known for the Drucker–Prager yield criterion. Willy Prager st ...

Medal and the

Drucker Medal The Daniel C. Drucker medal was instituted in 1997 by the Applied Mechanics Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Drucker Medal is conferred in recognition of distinguished contributions to the fields of applied mechanics a ...

and received an Honorary Doctorate from

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

(DTU). He is also the recipient of

Timoshenko Medal The Timoshenko Medal is an award given annually by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to an individual "in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of applied mechanics." The Timoshenko Medal, widely regarded as t ...

in 2011.

Selected publications

* * *

External links

Google Scholar page for Solid Mechanics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Needleman, Alan 1944 births Living people Educators from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Brown University faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Fellows of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering University of North Texas faculty Engineers from Pennsylvania