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Left: Banded material designed for isolating shock waves (black and white colors denote stiff and compliant phase, respectively). Right: Corresponding dispersion band diagram (band gaps shaded in red).
This work is done in collaboration with Professors Greg Hulbert and Richard Scott, Associate Professor Kazu Saitou and PhD candidate Karim Hamza. |
Mahmoud I. Hussein (PhD, 2004) received the top prize in the 17th annual Robert J. Melosh Medal competition for the Best Student Paper on Finite Element Analysis at a ceremony at Rensselaer in April 2005. The competition is sponsored by Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, the Scientific Computation Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Elsevier. It is endorsed by the International Association for Computational Mechanics.
The Robert J. Melosh Medal Competition was established to honor Professor Melosh, a pioneering researcher in finite element methods and former chairman of civil and environmental engineering at Duke. The winner is determined on the basis of a submitted extended abstract and an oral presentation of the paper, and the winner receives the Robert J. Melosh Medal and a $500 honorarium.
Hussein’s paper, “Dispersive Wave Motion in Periodic Materials and Structures: Multiscale Methodologies for Computation and Design Using Finite Element Analysis,” clearly reflected his area of specialization.
His dissertation focused on studying the dynamics of periodically heterogeneous materials and structures. A central phenomenon of interest that takes place in these systems is wave dispersion, which is important because it leads to frequency-banded dynamical characteristics.
“I chose this topic because of the potential it holds in providing new approaches for designing structures with favorable dynamical characteristics,” said Hussein. “My research involved developing multiscale computational tools for analyzing dispersion in this type of materials and structures, and using these tools to enhance our understanding of the basic underlying physical mechanisms. These efforts were then utilized towards developing a new methodology for designing structures for a range of applications including vibration and shock isolation (see accompanying images).”
“I find the field interesting also because it is rich in its physics and covers multiple disciplines such as vibration engineering, electromagnetics and materials science.”
Naturally, Hussein was excited about the honor. “I was very encouraged that the refereeing committee appreciated the quality of my work,” he said.
After spending several “great years” at Michigan as a PhD student and a post-doctoral researcher, Hussein has accepted a new position as a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. “This is a university that has a centuries-old reputation for academic excellence. I’m looking forward to experiencing its unique and stimulating environment.”
“I will be joining the Department of Engineering. My work will involve theoretical and computational studies of the fundamental deformation mechanisms in metal alloys with a particular emphasis on the dynamics of discrete dislocations. The project will involve close collaboration with experimentalists as well as other computational researchers who will be viewing the problem at different length scales.”
Hussein credits his ME education for preparing him for both the work on his dissertation and his professional career.
“I have learned a lot from my advisors, Professors Greg Hulbert and Richard Scott, on how best to conduct research and present the findings in the most effective way. In addition, I was fortunate to have interacted with many other inspiring faculty members at ME, some of which have become collaborators. My research experience at Michigan helped me develop an aptitude and a motivation for scientific exploration. Of course, the excellent collection of courses offered at ME and elsewhere at U-M has also been an invaluable educational resource.”
In addition to his doctorate, Hussein, who is from Egypt, earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the American University in Cairo in 1994; an MS in Mechanical Engineering, (Imperial College, London, 1995); an MSE in Applied Mechanics, (University of Michigan, 1999); and an MS in Mathematics, (University of Michigan, 2002).