NEW YORK, Aug. 17, 2006 — Alan Needleman, Ph.D., a resident of Providence, R.I., and Florence Pirce Grant university professor and professor of engineering at Brown University, was honored by ASME for his seminal contributions in the area of nonlinear mechanical response and failure of solids, structures and materials.  He received the Society’s Daniel C. Drucker Medal.

The medal, established in 1997, is conferred for distinguished contributions to the field of applied mechanics and mechanical engineering over a substantial period of time.  It was presented to Dr. Needleman at the Needleman-Tvergaard Symposium, held today at Brown University.

Needleman has been with Brown University since 1975.  The main focus of his research is computational modeling of inelastic deformation processes and fracture in structural metals.  Prior to joining Brown University, Needleman spent five years in applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

Needleman has contributed to a broad range of topics in the mechanics of solids, structures and materials.  These include plastic instabilities in structures, finite deformation plasticity, localization in various materials, fracture mechanics including dynamic fracture, crystal plasticity and dislocation mechanics.

Among his contributions is the enhancement of a constitutive model for porous materials known as the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman model.  Commercial software packages now embed this model in their suite of constitutive relations.  For modeling fracture numerically, Needleman developed a cohesive zone-modeling framework, in 1987, and implemented this into simulations of dynamic fracture in 1994.  This pioneering contribution stimulated much later work and such cohesive zone models are now also embedded in commercial codes to simulate crack growth.

Needleman has authored/co-authored nearly 300 publications and has been recognized by ISI (Science Citation Index) as a highly cited author in both the fields of engineering and materials science.  He also has lectured widely around the world.  Needleman has served on the editorial boards of numerous publications and currently serves on the boards of Modeling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, the European Journal of Mechanics–A/Solids, the International Journal of Fracture, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures and the SIAM Book Series on Computational Science and Engineering. 

An ASME Fellow, Needleman served on the Applied Mechanics Division’s Executive Committee for five years, including chair in 2000.  He was an associate editor of the Journal of Applied Mechanics (1998-2004).

Needleman received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1966.  He earned his master’s and Ph.D. in engineering at Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) in 1967 and 1970, respectively.  In 2006, he received a doctor technices honoris causa from the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen; and a doctor honoris causa from the Ecole Normale Superior de Cachan, France.

Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences.  ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community.  Visit www.asme.org. 

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