Achenbach Lecture Presented by Dean Mary Boyce

Dean Mary C. Boyce of Columbia University presented this year’s Achenbach Lecture on April 19^th.  The title of her lecture was  “Mechanics of Soft Composites: The Interplay between Geometrical Structuring and Large Deformation to Achieve Novel Behavior.” 

Dean Boyce has many connections to Northwestern: Professor Jian Cao,a faculty member in Mechanical Engineering, is one of her former PhD students.  It was also very serendipitous as Dean Boyce was elected into the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME 20 years after Professor Achenbach.

Co-sponsored by the CEE and ME Departments, the Jan Achenbach Lecture was established in 2012 in honor of Jan Achenbach, a Walter P. Murphy and Distinguished McCormick School Professor.  The lecture is given annually by an outstanding individual who has made significant contributions to society through science and engineering, and provides a forum to encourage stimulating thinking on a subject of broad interest to the Northwestern community. The Achenbach Lecture is made possible by an endowment donated by Professor Achenbach’s colleagues, friends, associates, former postdocs and students.