under the direction of Professor Michael Ortiz

Recent Events:

Prize of the Spanish Association for Numerical Methods in Engineering (SEMNI) - June 16, 2011
in recognition of scientific and professional achievement, presented at the "Congress on Numerical Methods in Engineering - CMNE2011, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Melosh Medalist for the Best Student Paper in Finite Element Analysis - May 2011
Recipient: Daniel Hurtado, Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile (formerly of California Institute of Technology, Advisor, M. Ortiz) "Multiscale Modeling of Microcrystalline Materials," D. Hurtado

James Clerk Maxwell Young Writers Prize - December 2010
Recipient: J.J. Rimoli, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA (formerly of California Institute of Technology, Advisor, M. Ortiz) "A three-dimensional multiscale model of intergranular hydrogen-assisted cracking," J.J. Rimoli, M. Ortiz

Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship - June 2010
Institute for Advance Study, Technische Universität Münich

Center of Excellence for Predictive Science
Director of Caltech's new Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP)

PSAAP News Release - March 13, 2008

Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics
Sponsored by Elsevier and awarded under the auspices
of the IUTAM, August 2008, Adelaide, Australia

American Academy or Arts and Sciences
Inducted, October 6, 2007, Cambridge, MA

Caltech Commencement, June 10, 2011

PhD Recipients:

Marcial Gonzalez, Doctor of Philosophy, (Aeronautics and Materials Science) Thesis: "Energy and Force Stepping Integrators in Lagrangian Mechanics"

Daniel Esteban Hurtado Sepulveda, Doctor of Philosophy, (Mechanical Engineering and Applied and Computational Mathematics) Thesis: "Multiscale Modeling of Microcrystalline Materials" and recipient of the Melosh Medalist for the Best Student Paper in Finite Element Analysis" - May 2011

Ashley Moore, Doctor of Philosophy, (Control and Dynamical Systems) Thesis: "Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control for Space Trajectory Design"

Luigi Emanuele Perotti, Doctor of Philosophy, (Mechanical Engineering and Applied and Computational Mathematics) Thesis: "Modeling the Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Sandwich Structures Subjected to Underwater Explosions"

Celia Reina Romo, Doctor of Philosophy, (Aeronautics) Thesis: "Multiscale Modeling and Simulation of Damage by Void Nucleation and Growth" and recipient of the "William F. Ballhaus Prize, awarded to aeronautics student for outstanding doctoral dissertation"

Phanish Suryanarayana, Doctor of Philosophy, (Aeronautics) Thesis: "Coarse-Graining Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory"

Gabriela Natalia Venturini, Doctor of Philosophy, (Aeronautics and Chemistry) Thesis: "Topics in Multiscale Modeling of Metals and Metallic Alloys"

M.S. Recipients:

Jeffrey Scott Amelang, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Jonathan Chiang, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Stefanie Heyden, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Stephanie Jane Mitchell, Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Carlos Ventura Piazza, Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Undergraduate Recipients:

Guozhi Huang, Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, with honors

Gerardo Antonio Morabito, Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering

Recent Lectures:

"Variational Methods in Multiscale Analysis" Invited Lecture, Workshop on Mechanics of Materials, Mathematisches Forschungsintitut, Oberwolfach, Germany, March 18 - 24, 2012 (pdf)

"Optimal Uncertainty Quantification in Complex Systems" Invited Lecture, Society of Engineering Science (SES), 48th Annual Technical Meeting, Eringen Medal Symposium in Honor of Professor Ares Rosakis, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, October 13, 2011 (pdf)

"Model-Based Rigorous Uncertainty Quantification in Complex Systems" Plenary Lecture, ECCOMAS COMPLAS XI, An ICIAM Special Interest Conference, Barcelona, Spain, September 7 - 9, 2011 (pdf)

"Advanced Cardiac Mechanics Emulator, Simulating the beating human heart" Technische Universität München (TUM), M. Ortiz, Project Head; Project Partners: Wolfgang A. Wall and Michael W. Gee, TUM; William Klug, UCLA, September 2011 (pdf)

"Line Tension as the Dilute Limit of Discrete Dislocations" Invited Lecture, M.P. Ariza and M. Ortiz, "7th International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM11), Vancouver, Canada, July 18 - 22, 2011 (pdf)

"Multiscale models of metal plasticity" Lecture I: Experimental and continuum thermodynamics basis; Invited Lecture Series, Sixth Summer School in Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Rome, Italy, June 20 - 24, 2011 (pdf)

"Multiscale models of metal plasticity" Lecture II: Energetics of dislocations; Invited Lecture Series, Sixth Summer School in Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Rome, Italy, June 20 - 24, 2011 (pdf)

"Multiscale models of metal plasticity" Lecture III: Dilute dislocations and the line tension model; Invited Lecture Series, Sixth Summer School in Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Rome, Italy, June 20 - 24, 2011 (pdf)

"Multiscale models of metal plasticity" Lecture IV: Kinetics and work hardening; Invited Lecture Series, Sixth Summer School in Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Rome, Italy, June 20 - 24, 2011 (pdf)

"The Dilute Limit of Discrete Dislocations: Application to Dislocation Junctions" Invited Lecture, M. P. Ariza and M. Ortiz; 5th International Symposium on Defect and Material Mechanics (ISDMM11), University of Seville, Seville, Spain, June 26 - July 1, 2011 (pdf)

"Variational models of dynamic fracture" Invited Lecture, Mini-Workshop on Mathematical Models, Analysis and Numerical Methods for Dynamic Fracture Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut, Oberwolfach, Germany, April 26, 2011 (pdf)

"Predictive Modeling and Simulation of the Dynamic Response of Materials at Caltech" Invited Lecture, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) School of Jet Propulsion, Beijing, CHINA, March 14, 2011, (pdf)

"Model-Based Rigorous Uncertainty Quantification in Complex Systems" Invited Plenary Lecture, MECOM Del Bicentenario 2010, IX Argentinean Congress on Computational Mechanics, Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 17, 2010 (pdf)

"Multiscale Analysis as a (Lossless) Approximation Scheme" Invited Plenary Lecture, MMM2010, Fifth International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling, Freiburg, Germany, October 7, 2010 (pdf)

"Model-Based Rigorous Uncertainty Quantification in Complex Systems" Invited Lecture, Applied Mathematics Seminar, Warwick Mathematics Seminar, Warwick Mathematics Institute, June 23, 2010 (pdf)

"Optimal Transportation Meshfree Approximation Schemes for Fluid and Plastic Flows" Distinguished Lecture Series in Structural Mechanics, The Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, February 23, 2010 (pdf)

"Shock-Induced sub-grain microstructures in energetic polycrystals" Invited Lecture, TMS 2010 139th Annual Meeting, Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle, WA, February 17, 2010 (pdf)

"Dislocations in graphene" Invited Lecture, Symposium on Multiscale Dislocation Dynamics, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, January 16 - 17, 2010 (pdf)

"Optimal-Transportation Meshfree Approximation Schemes for Fluid and Plastic Flows" Invited Lecture, Institut für Baustatik und Baudynamik, Universität Stuttgart, September 23, 2009 (pdf)

"Dislocation in graphene" Invited Lecture, Workshop on PDEs and Materials, Oberwolfach, Germany, September 13 - 19, 2009 (pdf)

"Optimal-Transportation Meshfree Approximation Schemes for Fluid and Plastic Flows" Invited Lecture, COMPLAS X, Barcelona, Spain, September 3, 2009 (pdf)

"Multiscale Modeling of High Energetic Materials under Impact Loads" Invited Lecture, USNCCM X, Columbus, OH, July 16 - 19, 2009 (pdf)

"Can Complex Material Behavior be Predicted" Invited Lecture, Krell Institute 2009 Annual Conference, DoE NNSA Stockpile Stewardship Graduate Fellowship Program Meeting, Washington, DC, July 13 - 16, 2009 (pdf)

"Multiscale Modeling of Energetic Materials" Invited Lecture, New Frontiers in the Mathematics of Solids Multiscale Models in Solid Mechanics, Oxford University, UK, June 3, 2009 (pdf)

"Energy-stepping integrators in Lagrangian mechanics" Structured Integrators Workshop, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, May 8, 2009 (pdf)

"Multiscale modeling of materials: Linking microstructure and macroscopic behavior" Invited Lecture, Seminarios Interuniversitarios de Mecanica y Materiales, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Seville, Spain, December 16 - 19, 2008 (pdf)

"Minimum principles for characterizing the trajectories and microstructural evolution of dissipative systems" Invited Lecture, SES, Champagne, IL, October 13, 2008 (pdf)

"Multiscale models of metal plasticity: Part I: Dislocation dynamics to crystal plasticity" Invited Lecture, MULTIMAT closing meeting, Bonn, Germany, September 12, 2008 (pdf)

"Multiscale models of metal plasticity: Part II: Crystal plasticity to subgrain microstructures" Invited Lecture, MULTIMAT closing meeting, Bonn, Germany, September 12, 2008 (pdf)

"Nonconvex Plasticity and Microstructure" Rodney Hill Prize Plenary Lecture, 22nd International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Adelaide, Australia, August 27, 2008 (pdf)

"Nonconvex Plasticity and Microstructure" Invited Lecture, 8th World Congress on Computational Mechanics, Venezia, Italy, July 1, 2008 (pdf)

"Electronic-structure calculations at macroscopic scales" Opening Plenary Lecture, 8th World Congress on Computational Mechanics, Venezia, Italy, June 30, 2008 (pdf)

"Quasi-Continuum Density Functional Theory" Invited Lecture, 8th World Congress on Computational Mechanics, Venezia, Italy, June 30, 2008 (pdf)

"Minimum principles for characterizing the trajectories and microstructural evolution of dissipative systems" Invited Lecture, Geometric Analysis, Elasticity and PDEs, Edinburgh, June 26, 2008 (pdf)

"Discrete Dislocation Dynamics" Invited Lecture, Symposium on Multiscale Dislocation Dynamics, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, January 19 - 20, 2008 (pdf)