The work of assistant professor Sam Daly was recognized by the Society for Experimental Mechanics, who recently awarded her with the 2014 Journal of Strain Analysis (JSA) Young Lecturer Award. The society considers both the recipient’s early career accomplishments, as well as his or her potential to excel in the field of Experimental Mechanics.
Daly earned her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, and began working as an assistant professor for the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2008. She has taught several courses here at the university including the Theory of Plasticity, Mechanics of Materials, Experimental Methods in Solids, and the Theory of Solid Continua.
Her research takes place in the Advanced Materials and Mechanics Laboratory where she combines both the study of experimental mechanics and materials science. Focus points include novel methods of experimentation in unison with theoretical and computational modeling. Presently, she leads a research group that is exploring the development of novel methods of multi-scale material characterization. Subsequently, her studies are applied to active materials, high temperature ceramics, very high cycle and low cycle fatigue mechanisms, plasticity, fracture, and material behavior at the nano-scale. Daly’s Young Lecturer Award is preceded by several others which she has earned over the years.