Richard A. Auhll Department Chair

Location

3064 François-Xavier Bagnoud Aerospace Building
1320 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2140

Additional Title(s)

Felix Pawlowski Collegiate Professor, Aerospace Engineering

Primary Website

https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/um-csl

Education

California Institute of Technology
PhD Aeronautics and Applied Mathematics ’88
MS Aeronautics ’83

Imperial College, University of London
BSc Aeronautics ’82

City and Guilds Institute, London
ACGI ’82

Teaching

(Courses taught at UM): A variety of UG and Grad Classes, including AE215, AE301, AE 315, AE415, AE516, AE518, AE200, AE585

Research Interests

Science and Engineering of lightweight materials and structures, with a focus on additive manufacturing, material instabilities, structural integrity and damage tolerance, including damage mechanics and fracture mechanics. Physics-based mechanical models of deformation response of fiber reinforced composite aerospace structures, textile composite structures and ceramic composites for high-temperature applications that demand high specific weight. Mechanics of “natural” materials and structures, specifically bio-materials and biological composites. Chemo-mechanics of polymers and polymer composites.

Professional Service

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Fellow)
• Royal Aeronautical Society of UK (Fellow)
• The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (Fellow)
• American Society for Composites (Fellow)
• American Academy of Mechanics (Fellow)
• International Committee on Composite Materials (World Fellow)

Biography

Anthony M. Waas is the Richard A Auhll Department Chair of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he holds the Felix Pawlowski Collegiate Chair in Aerospace Engineering. He is also a Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that he was the Boeing Egtvedt Endowed Chair Professor and Department Chair in the William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle. His current research interests are: robotically manufactured lightweight structures, computational modeling of composite structures, 3D printed structures, damage tolerance of structures, affordable textile composites, and data science applications in modeling of materials and structures. Professor Waas was the Felix Pawlowski Collegiate Chair Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Director, Composite Structures Laboratory at the University of Michigan, from 1988 to 2014, prior to joining UW in January 2015. He assumed his current position in Fall 2018. Professor Waas is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), the American Society for Composites (ASC), the American Academy of Mechanics (AAM) and the Royal Aeronautical Society, UK. He is a recipient of several best paper awards, the 2016 AIAA/ASME SDM award, the AAM Jr. Research Award, the ASC Outstanding Researcher Award, and several distinguished awards from the University of Michigan, including the Stephen S. Attwood award for Excellence in Engineering, one of the highest honors for an Engineering faculty member at the University of Michigan. He received the AIAA-ASC James H. Starnes, jr. Award, 2017, for seminal contributions to composite structures and materials, and for mentoring students and other young professionals. In 2017, Professor Waas was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, and in 2018 to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is also the recipient of the AIAA ICME Prize, 2020, and the ASME Warner T. Koiter Medal, 2020. Recently, Prof. Waas was elected to the National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. Waas was also awarded to present the AIAA Dryden Lecture in Research in 2022 at the AIAA Scitech Conference.

Professor Waas obtained his B.Sc in Aeronautics with First Class Honors from Imperial College, London, 1982, the ACGI in 1982, the MS and Ph.D in Aeronautics and Applied Mathematics (minor)  from Caltech, 1983 and 1988, respectively.

POSITIONS HELD AT U-M

• Richard A. Auhl Department Chair of Aerospace Engineering (2018 to present)
• Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering (2014 – 2018)
• Professor, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering (2000-2014)
• Associate Chair, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering (2003-2004)
• Associate Professor, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering (1994-2000)
• Assistant Professor, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering (1988-1994)

Awards

He is a recipient of several best paper awards, the 2016 AIAA/ASME SDM award, the AAM Jr. Research Award, the ASC Outstanding Researcher Award, and several distinguished awards from the University of Michigan, including the CoE David Liddle Research Award, The Ted Kennedy Award and the CoE Stephen Atwood Award. He received the AIAA-ASC James H. Starnes, jr. Award, 2017, for seminal contributions to composite structures and materials and for mentoring students and other young professionals. In 2017, Professor Waas was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, and in 2018 to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2020, he won the ASME/Boeing Best Paper Award, AIAA ICME Prize, multiple best paper awards and the ASME Warner T. Koiter Medal for lifelong contributions to understanding compressive instabilities in fiber reinforced composites. Recently, Prof. Waas was elected to the National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. Waas was also awarded to present the AIAA Dryden Lecture in Research in 2022 at the AIAA Scitech Conference.

Related Links

• Curriculum Vitae
• Publications

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