Thomas Siegmund named president of Society of Engineering Science

Thomas Siegmund
The first SES meeting in 1963 brought notable guests from the worlds of engineering and science, including Vladimir Zworykin, who invented the cathode ray tube for television. (Left to right: A.C. Eringen, Purdue; V.K. Zworykin, RCA; S. Chandrasekhar, University of Chicago; C.F. Curtiss, University of Wisconsin; L.V. Kline, IBM; Paula Feuer, Purdue; S.L. Koh, Purdue; A.E. Green, Kings College, Newcastle.
Thomas Siegmund, professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, has been elected president of the Society of Engineering Science (SES) for the 2017 term. Siegmund is the first Purdue faculty member to hold the position since A.C. Eringen founded the organization in 1963, and held its first meeting on Purdue's campus.

"I'm excited to be a part of this organization, which came into being right here on Purdue's campus," said Siegmund.

SES founder A.C. Eringen originally came to Purdue in 1953 as a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering. He wanted to foster cooperation and discussion among scientists and engineers of diverse backgrounds.  As a result, in November 1963 he welcomed to Purdue's campus more than 400 physicists, chemists, mathematicians, and engineers from around the world, and from all types of specializations. One of the featured speakers was Vladimir Zworykin, inventor of the cathode ray tube for television.

"His vision was that engineers and scientists of all kinds could have a free exchange of information and ideas," said Siegmund.  "And I'm happy to say that SES has carried that mission forward to this day."

Siegmund previously helped to host the SES annual conference at Purdue in 2014, and also served as vice president of the organization in 2016. This year's SES conference is July 25-28 at Northeastern University in Boston.

At Purdue, Siegmund studies solid mechanics, focusing on material design, microstructure, and fracture and fatigue.  He recently started the Indiana Consortium for Simulation-based Engineering of Materials and Structures (ICSEMS), which uses computer modeling and simulation to assist Indiana manufacturers.

 

Society of Engineering Science: http://ses.egr.uh.edu