David L. McDowell

Carter N. Paden Jr. Distinguished Chair in Metals Processing and Regents' Professor

Office:	MRDC, Room 4105
Phone:	404.894.5128
Fax:	404.894.0186
E-mail:
Online:	Mechanical Properties Research Laboratory (MPRL) Carter N. Paden, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Metals Processing List of Papers [PDF]

Education

• Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1983
• M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1981
• B.S., University of Nebraska, 1979

Research Areas and Descriptors

• Mechanics of Materials and Computer-Aided Engineering and Design; Material deformation and damage, constitutive laws, metals processing, and simulation-assisted materials design

Background

Dr. McDowell joined Georgia Tech in Fall 1983 as an Assistant Professor after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As Regents’ Professor and Carter N. Paden, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Metals Processing, McDowell holds a dual appointment in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He has served as Director of the Mechanical Properties Research Laboratory since 1992 and as Chair of the Georgia Tech Materials Council since 1994. McDowell currently serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Internatioal Journal of Plasticity, and is co-Editor of the International Journal of Fatigue.

Research

Dr. McDowell's research focuses on the synthesis of experiment and computation to develop physically-based constitutive models for nonlinear and time-dependent behavior of materials, with emphasis on wrought and cast metals. Research topics of interest include cyclic plasticity and microstructure-sensitive fatigue modeling of metallic systems, finite strain plasticity and defect field theories, behavior of metallic foams and honeycomb materials, creep-fatigue-environment interaction, thermomechanical fatigue, time-dependent fracture, atomistic simulations with focus on dislocation-interface reactions, phase transformations, and multiscale modeling. For the past fifteen years he has pursued definition and more systematic development of the field of multifunctional design of materials over a broad range of applications, including metal honeycombs for cooling and structural applications, lightweight transportation vehicles, components for hot sections of aircraft gas turbine engines, protective armor systems, and energetic material systems. He is Co-Director of the NSF-sponsored Center for Computational Materials Design, a joint Penn State-Georgia Tech I/UCRC.

Distinctions

• University of Illinois, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, 2009
• ASM International Fellow for "advancing the state of knowledge in microstructure property relationships of structural materials," 2008
• International Journal of Fatigue Co-Editor, 2007-present
• Khan International Medal for outstanding, lifelong contributions to the field of plasticity, 2008
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • Materials Division Senior Orr Award for the best fatigue and fracture paper to appear within the twelve-month period July 2005 through June 2006 in the ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology.
  • Nadai Award (Materials Division), 1997
  • Fellow, 1995
  • ASME/Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal, 1987
• Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activities Award, 2001
  • Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor Award, 2000
  • Outstanding Faculty Research Author Award Co-Recipient, 1993
• Society of Engineering Science
  • Fellow, 2007
  • President, 2002
• Jack M. Zeigler (BME 1948) Woodruff School Outstanding Educator Award, 2004
• Society of Engineering Science President, 2002; Elected Fellow of SES in 2006
• University of Nebraska College of Engineering Advisory Board Member, 2004-present.
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Member of the M&IE Alumni Board, 1999-2002.
• International Journal of Fracture Regional  Editor, 1997-2005.
• Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal of Plasticity, 1991-present
• Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal of Damage Mechanics, 1993-present
• Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal of Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, 1994-present
• Editorial Board, Journal of Multiscale Computational Engineering, 2002-present
• Editorial Board, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 2004-present
• American Society for Testing and Materials Outstanding Service Award, 2001
• Societ Francaise de Metallurgie et de Materiaux Medaille d'Honneur, 1994
• Woodruff School Faculty Fellow, 1991-1996
• American Society for Engineering Education Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award, 1990
• Alfred Noble Prize, Jointly awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1986
• National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1986
• Society of Automotive Engineers Ralph R. Teetor Award, 1986

Representative Publications

• P. M. Diet, et al. 2009. Atomistic Simulations of Dislocations in Confined Volumes. MRS Bulletin 34(3), 184-189.
• H. J. Choi, et al. 2008. An Inductive Design Exploration Method for Robust Multiscale Materials Design. Journal of Mechanical Design 130(3), 031402-1-13.
• M. A. Tschopp, D. E. Spearot, and D. L. McDowell 2008. Influence of Grain Boundary Structure on Dislocation Nucleation in FCC Metals. Dislocations in Solids, A Tribute to F.R.N. Nabarro, J.P. Hirth (Ed.), Elsevier Publishers, 43-139.
• D. L. McDowell, and G. B. Olson. 2008, Concurrent Design of Hierarchical Materials and Structures. Scientific Modeling and Simulation (CMNS) 15(1), 207.
• D. L. McDowell. 2008. Viscoplasticity of Heterogeneous Metallic Materials. Materials Science and Engineering R: Reports, 62(3), 67-123.