M.M. Frocht Award

Mr. Max Mark Frocht was honored for his professional accomplishments by the 1967 initiation of the M.M. Frocht Award. The award recognizes "outstanding achievement as an educator in the field of experimental mechanics," and is presented annually.

Dr. Frocht's work on photoelasticity research on stress concentration factors and 3-D techniques and his two-volume treatise on photoelasticity is considered a classic and has been translated into Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. Its publication was credited with revitalizing interest in photoelasticity.

Dr. Frocht was a student of Steven Timoshenko and many of his own students have made important contributions to the field of experimental mechanics. He presented papers and lectures on photoelasticity and experimental stress analysis in all parts of the world.

Sia Nemat-Nasser is a Distinguished Professor of Mechanics and Materials, and has held the John Dove Isaacs Chair in Natural Philosophy at UCSD, where he is a Professor and Director of the Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials (CEAM). As a Professor, he taught mechanics and mathematics at Northwestern University, and spearheaded the creation of an integrated Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Program at UCSD, serving as its Founding Director. He was Co-Director of UCSD’s NSF’s Institute for Mechanics and Materials and later, Director.

Sia’s awards and honors include: National Academy of Engineering: Member; International Technology Institute: Willard F. Rockwell Medal; World Innovation Foundation: Honorary Member; and Sacramento State University Alumni Association: Distinguished Service Award. ASME: Nadai Medal; Aerospace Division’s Adaptive Structures and Materials Systems Best Paper of the Year Award [Nemat-Nasser, S. “Micromechanics of Actuation of Ionic Polymer-metal Composites,” J. of App. Phys., 92, 5 (2002)]; elected Honorary Member; Robert Henry Thurston Award; Stephen P. Timoshenko Medal; and the Materials Division established “The Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Medal” to recognize research excellence by young investigators within a ten year period after earning their Ph.D. with special focus on underrepresented minorities and women. ASCE: Theodore von Karman Medal. SEM: B.J. Lazan Award, M.W Murray Medal, elected Fellow. SES: William Prager Medal in Solid Mechanics. UCSD: Faculty Research Lecturer Award; and the School of Engineering/MAE Teacher of the Year Award, three times.

Sia has authored or coauthored over 490 scientific papers, over 20 books and proceedings; and has published two major books: (1) Co-authored with Hori, Micromechanics: Overall Properties of Heterogeneous Solids, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1st edition (1993); 2nd Edition (1999); and (2) Nemat-Nasser, S., Plasticity: A Treatise on Finite Deformation of Heterogeneous Inelastic Materials, Cambridge University Press (2004). He has been consultant to many companies and has served in a number of national scientific panels. For a complete list of publications and other information, please refer to the website: http://maeresearch.ucsd.edu/nemat-nasser.

Sia’s research has focused on experimental characterization, mathematical modeling, model verification of the thermo-electro-chemo-mechanical properties of a variety of materials under various loading and environmental conditions. He has worked on the mechanics of ceramics, ceramic composites, high strength alloys and superalloys, rocks and geomaterials, and advanced metallic and polymeric composites with electromagnetic, self-healing, and self-sensing functionality; ionic polymer-metal composites as soft actuators/sensors, and shape-memory alloys. He has a history of realizing the impact of experimental mechanics on various scientific and engineering fields, to develop novel materials with new properties.