Kon-Well Wang is the Stephen P. Timoshenko Collegiate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He served as the Mechanical Engineering Department Chair for two consecutive terms, 2008-2018, and he currently directs the National Science Foundation’s Division of Engineering Education and Centers.
Wang is a renowned scholar in the emerging field of structural dynamics. His work has pioneered a new class of adaptive structures with piezoelectric circuitry networks and was the first to exploit the ultra-large surface area of carbon nanotube inclusions to achieve lightweight high damping composites. He has a distinguished publication record and holds multiple patents and invention disclosures, and his work continues to revolutionize the automobile and aerospace industries.
A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the ASME and the Institute of Physics, Wang has been recognized with the highest honors in his field, including the ASME J.P. Den Hartog Award, the ASME Adaptive Structures and Materials Systems Prize, and the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received the Stephen S. Attwood Award, one of the highest honors in the College of Engineering.
Wang earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and then went on to work at General Motors Research Laboratories and Pennsylvania State University before joining the U-M ME department.
The Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award honors senior faculty who have consistently demonstrated outstanding achievements in the areas of scholarly research or creative endeavors, teaching and mentoring of students and junior colleagues, service and related activities that have brought distinction to themselves and to the University of Michigan. For a full list of Faculty Awards click here.
