Professor Allan Bower publishes new book, Applied Mechanics of Solids

Professor Allan Bowers new book, Applied Mechanics of Solids, comes out today, October 1, 2009.

Applied Mechanics of Solids summarizes the physical laws, mathematical methods, and computer algorithms that are used to predict the response of materials and structures to mechanical or thermal loading.

Topics include: the mathematical descriptions of deformation and forces in solids; constitutive laws; analytical techniques and solutions to linear elastic and elastic-plastic boundary value problems; the use and theory of finite element analysis; fracture mechanics; and the theory of deformable rods, plates and shells.

Over 400 practice problems are provided on a companion web site, as well as demonstration finite element codes in MAPLE and MATLAB. The text is intended for advanced undergraduate or graduate students, as well as practicing engineers and scientists. It will be particularly useful to readers who wish to learn enough about solid mechanics to impress their teachers, colleagues, research advisors, or managers, but who would prefer not to study the subject in depth.

An electronic version of the text can be accessed at http://solidmechanics.org and its also available from Amazon.

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Knowledge-based economy in RI

Kipp Bradford (Engineering Sc.B. '95 and Adjunct Professor) shares his participation in Rhode Island's Knowledge-based economy.

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Summer Insights

Brown Engineers were involved in a variety of worthwhile projects this summer:

or visit:
http://www.youtube.com/user/brownengin

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Meet our new faculty

Engineering welcomed three new faculty members recently. Read more about them:
Sean Deoni
http://today.brown.edu/faculty/2009/deoni
Christian Franck
http://today.brown.edu/faculty/2009/franck
Domenico Pacifici
http://today.brown.edu/faculty/2009/pacifici

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Audio Insights: Nanovis developing nanosurface technology

Listen to audio excerpts from a recent highlight interview with Professor Thomas Webster talking about his start-up company Nanovis.

Nanovis' leaders say, depending on the type of conventional implant, up to five percent can become problematic because the body rejects it, recognizing it as a foreign object because its smooth surface doesn't match the rough surface features of human tissue. However, the nanosurfaced implants Nanovis is developing feature a "roughness" that mimics human tissue, allowing the body to "accept" them. Webster says the nanosurfaced implants decrease infection, reduce the growth of scar tissue and promote the growth of healthy tissue. Listen

Using the same core idea of mimicking the natural roughness of human tissue, Nanovis is developing nanosurface technology for orthopedic, spinal, dental, cardiovascular and soft tissue implants. Listen

"It's a pretty exciting time for me as a researcher and a pretty exciting time for this mysterious sounding field of nanotechnology. There's actually real world application for this field—not just the nano iPod!" laughs Webster. "There are actual medical devices and real clinical treatments that can benefit from nanotechnology."

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Testing nanomaterials for safety

"Scientists are preemptively testing the potentially ill effects of the tiny molecules and even atoms engineered at the scale of one billionth of a meter or smaller."

Carbon nanoparticles appear to be benign when fed to fruit fly larvae, but adults exposed to the nanoparticles in powdery form are not as lucky. Research led by David Rand and Robert Hurt show two varieties of carbon nanoparticles stuck to the flies, impeded them from climbing and ultimately caused them to die.

See full article at Scientific American:
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbon-nanomaterials-bad-for-fruit-fly-coating
See Brown news release: news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2009/08/nanotoxicity

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Tissue engineering research at Brown

Codirector of Brown University’s Center for Biomedical Engineering, Jeff Morgan leads a team of scientists who have developed novel ways of forming individual cells into living tissue. Some day, their techniques, in combination with stem-cell technology, could cure or lessen the suffering of diabetes and other debilitating diseases.

Strictly speaking, Morgan is a tissue engineer –– one of a substantial number of scientists around the world who are learning how to create groupings of cells that mimic the function of tissues or organs. Formed in the laboratory, these tissues can be transplanted into living creatures. Research is still largely confined to experimental animals –– but success so far in mice and rats holds great promise for humans.

Morgan’s advance is his unique method of growing and assembling individual cells into larger clusters –– what he calls the potential “building blocks” of tissues and organs that could be produced on demand.

More from the Providence Journal here:
http://www.projo.com/news/content/tissue_man_08-03-09_O4F81UM_v10.3b3bef6.html

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