Ellen Marie Arruda is an American mechanical engineer known for her research on the mechanical properties of

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

s and on

tissue engineering Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of Cell (biology), cells, engineering, Materials science, materials methods, and suitable biochemistry, biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintai ...

, with applications including the design of improved

football helmet The football helmet is a piece of protective equipment used mainly in gridiron football, although a structural variation has occasional use in Australian rules football. It consists of a hard plastic shell with thick padding on the inside, a f ...

s, artificial

tooth enamel Tooth enamel is one of the four major Tissue (biology), tissues that make up the tooth in humans and many other animals, including some species of fish. It makes up the normally visible part of the tooth, covering the Crown (tooth), crown. The ...

that can withstand high-shock and high-vibration environments, and nanolayered composite materials that are lightweight, as strong as steel, and transparent. The

Arruda–Boyce model In continuum mechanics, an Arruda–Boyce model Arruda, E. M. and Boyce, M. C., 1993, A three-dimensional model for the large stretch behavior of rubber elastic materials,, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 41(2), pp. 389–412. is a hyperelastic constitu ...

for the behavior of

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

-like polymers is named for her and her doctoral advisor Mary Cunningham Boyce, with whom she published it in 1993. She is Maria Comninou Collegiate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Tim Manganello / Borg Warner Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Education and career

Arruda earned bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1985 and 1988, and completed a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering 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 ...

in 1992. Her dissertation, ''Characterization of the Strain Hardening Response of Amorphous Polymers'', was supervised by Mary Cunningham Boyce. She joined the University of Michigan Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics and Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering as an assistant professor in 1992, became a full professor in 2005, and added an affiliation as a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2009.

Recognition

Arruda was named a Fellow of the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

and of the Society of Engineering Science in 2008, and of the American Academy of Mechanics in 2010. She was elected to 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 ...

in 2017 "for pioneering research in polymer and tissue mechanics and their application in innovative commercial products". She was the 2018 winner of the James R. Rice Medal of the Society of Engineering Science, "for substantial contributions to the mechanics of engineering polymers and biological materials, with both fundamental and applied impact", the 2019 winner of the Nadai Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the 2023 winner of the

American Society of Biomechanics The American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) is a scholarly society that focuses on biomechanics across a variety of academic fields. It was founded in 1977 by a group of scientists and clinicians. The ASB holds an annual conference as an arena to dis ...

Borelli award which recognizes outstanding career accomplishment.

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arruda, Ellen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American mechanical engineers 21st-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers Penn State College of Engineering alumni MIT School of Engineering alumni University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering American women academics