Dr. James E. Hubbard Jr (born December 21, 1951) is a
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...
who has made significant contributions to the field of
aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
throughout a career spanning more than four decades in academia and industry.
Hubbard is considered a pioneer in the field of
adaptive structures having developed piezo-film sensors and piezoelectric actuation systems for suppressing vibration and noise, surface morphing, and other applications. Hubbard has published more than 100 technical papers and three books in the areas of adaptive structures and
photonics
Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in the form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. E ...
. He cofounded three companies and has received 24 U.S. and worldwide patents, leading to technological advances benefiting the aerospace, medical, defense, and other industries.
In 2016, Hubbard was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
for advances in the modelling, design, analyses, and application of adaptive structures. He has also received the
International Society for Optics and Photonics' Smart Structures Product Innovation Award (1999) and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2016).
Career
Following graduation from
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
The Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, colloquially referred to as BPI, Poly, and The Institute, is a US public high school founded in 1883. Established as an all-male manual trade / vocational high school by the Baltimore City Council and the ...
(an engineering high school), Hubbard began his career in 1971 as an engineering officer in the
U.S. Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine is an organization composed of United States civilian sailor, mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of ...
shipping munition and equipment to the
war effort in Vietnam.
[The HistoryMakers]
James Hubbard Jr.
Accessed 2019-08-22. He was one of only a handful of African Americans serving in the U.S. Merchant Marine fleet, and at 19, he became one of the youngest servicemen licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard as a
marine engineer.
Hubbard graduated from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
(MIT) with his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering in 1977 and 1979, respectively.
[MIT Black History]
Faculty Notes: Teaching While Black at MIT
Accessed 2019-08-22. For his doctorate, Hubbard researched helicopter
aeroacoustics Aeroacoustics is a branch of acoustics that studies noise generation via either turbulent fluid motion or aerodynamic forces interacting with surfaces. Noise generation can also be associated with periodically varying flows. A notable example of t ...
, and in 1982, he became MIT's first black Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.
Hubbard served on the faculty at MIT researching
active vibration control
Active vibration control is the active application of force in an equal and opposite fashion to the forces imposed by external vibration. With this application, a precision industrial process can be maintained on a platform essentially vibration- ...
of structures. Hubbard's research in the early 1980s led to what many consider the first example of an
adaptive structure,
[Clark, Robert, William Saunders, Gary Gibbs (1998) ''Adaptive Structures: Dynamics and Control''. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, NY] one that can change its structural characteristics in response to external stimuli.
Mechanical vibrations
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
can cause systems particularly large spacecraft structures such as telescopes and satellites to fail or affect their precision. In 1985, Hubbard and coauthor Thomas Bailey published a seminal paper describing how a thin, continuous piezoelectric film could both sense vibration and apply its own electric force to dampen the vibrations of a steel beam. Hubbard was granted two patents for this research. Today, he is considered the founding father of the field of adaptive structures,
which has numerous applications ranging from damping vibrations to
morphing aircraft to deployable space structures. As an assistant professor at MIT, Hubbard received one of five nationwide IBM Young Faculty Development Awards. For his teaching and mentoring efforts, Hubbard earned the Goodwin Medal for "conspicuously effective" teaching and the Steward Award for outstanding service to the community. He was also recognized as a Scott Foundation Fellow and Vertical Flight Foundation Fellow. While lecturing at MIT, Hubbard also held positions at two research and development organizations,
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Draper Laboratory is an American non-profit research and development organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts; its official name is The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. The laboratory specializes in the design, development, an ...
an
Optron Systems, Inc.As chief of adaptive sensors at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, he was recognized with annual awards for best technical patent, best paper, and best invention.
In 1995, he accepted a position at
Boston University's newly founde
Photonics Center a research institution and high-tech incubator. While at the Photonics Center, Hubbard cofounded two companies PhotoSense, Inc. and iProvica Inc. and developed 12 patents, including one for Smart Skin technology. Smart Skin is a large-area sensing surface with a wide range of applications from hospital beds that can track a patient's medical indicators to car seats that sense the size and weight of a passenger.
[President’s Award: James E. Hubbard, Ph.D.](_blank)
(2002) ''U.S. Black Engineer & Information Technology''. 26(1): 42.
In 2004, Hubbard joined the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
as director to both the Morpheus Laboratory and the Center of Adaptive Aerospace Vehicle Technology at NASA's
National Institute of Aerospace.
[University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering (2015)]
Hubbard Named ASME Fellow.
The research program focused on improving the aerodynamic efficiency of modern air vehicles by enabling radical shape change for example, improving the fuel efficiency and range of drones by designing wings that morph as aerodynamic conditions change. Hubbard is currently a
Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Eminent Professor
[Reiley, Jennifer (2018)]
Hubbard joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Texas A&M Engineering News. an
Hagler Institute for Advanced StudiesFellow at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
in College Station, Texas.
[Totzke, Deana (2019)]
Three College of Engineering faculty among Hagler Institute’s first permanent members.
Texas A&M Engineering News. He is leading th
StarLab at the RELLIS Campuswhere researchers are advancing the science of autonomous vehicles and
human–robot teaming. This work becomes increasingly important as
autonomous vehicles
Vehicular automation is using technology to assist or replace the operator of a vehicle such as a car, truck, aircraft, rocket, military vehicle, or boat. Assisted vehicles are ''semi-autonomous'', whereas vehicles that can travel without a ...
are used in a growing number of applications, from self-driving cars to crop surveys to search-and-rescue missions.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, James E.
1951 births
American mechanical engineers
MIT School of Engineering alumni
Texas A&M University faculty
Living people