Information About

Jan D. Achenbach, Walter P. Murphy Professor and Distinguished McCormick School Professor of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Sciences, and Applied Mathematics, received the National Medal of Science from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony on Friday, July 27, 2007.

Achenbach was honored for his seminal contributions to engineering research and education in the area of wave propagation in solids and for pioneering the field of quantitative nondestructive evaluation.

The National Medal of Science honors individuals for pioneering scientific research in a range of fields — including physical, biological,mathematical, social, behavioral, and engineering sciences — that enhance our understanding of the world and lead to innovations and technologies that give the United States its global economic edge. The National Science Foundation administers the award, which was established by Congress in 1959.

Achenbach, who joined Northwestern in 1963, is a preeminent researcher in solid mechanics and quantitative non-destructive evaluation. He has made major contributions in the field of propagation of mechanical disturbances in solids. He has achieved important results in quantitative non-destructive evaluation of materials, damage mechanisms in composites, and vibrations of complex structures.

He has developed methods for flaw detection and characterization by ultrasonic scattering methods. Achenbach’s work has been both analytical and experimental. He also has achieved valuable results on earthquake mechanisms, on the mechanical behavior of composite materials under dynamic loading conditions, and on the vibrations of solid propellant rockets.

Achenbach is founder of Northwestern’s Center for Quality Engineering and Failure Prevention, a state-of-the-art laboratory for quality control in structural mechanics, with profound impact on the aircraft industry, particularly the monitoring of aging aircraft.

Achenbach was awarded the 2003 National Medal of Technology, the nation’s highest honor for technological innovation. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1982, a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1992, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. In 1999 he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. He is also an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a fellow of ASME, ASA, SES, AMA, and AAAS. His other awards include the Timoshenko Medal and the William Prager Medal.

Jan Achenbach receives National Medal of Science

An arms race: Building better prosthetic limbs

Exploring the depths of space: Research helps solve key problems for missions to Saturn and beyond

Professor Chang Liu joins mechanical engineering department

ASME Applied Mechanics Division honors Ted Belytschko

New professor focuses on the convergence of mechanics, photonics, energy, and biology

Cate Brinson takes the helm!

Faculty honors and awards