David L. McDowell, Paden Chair Holder
Regents’ Professor and Carter N. Paden, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Metals Processing, Dave McDowell joined Georgia Tech in 1983 and holds appointments in both the GWW School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He served as Director of the Mechanical Properties Research Laboratory from 1992-2012. In August 2012 he was named Founding Director of the Institute for Materials (IMat), a Georgia Tech interdisciplinary research institute charged with cultivating a campus-wide materials innovation ecosystem for research and education. IMat has been involved in regional and national leadership roles for the Materials Genome Initiative (see http://www.materials.gatech.edu). McDowell served in this role through 2020. He is a member of review and advisory boards of several national laboratories and multi-university research centers.
McDowell’s research focuses on the synthesis of experiment and computation to develop physically-based, microstructure-sensitive constitutive models for nonlinear and time-dependent behavior of materials, with emphasis on wrought and cast metals. Recent efforts have included 3D printed alloys. Topics of interest include finite strain inelasticity and defect field mechanics, constitutive relations and microstructure-sensitive computational approaches to deformation and damage of heterogeneous materials, including metal fatigue, atomistic simulations of dislocation nucleation and mediation at grain boundaries, coarse-grained atomistic modeling, dynamic deformation and failure of materials, irradiation effects on reactor materials, and multiscale modeling. He is interested in use of computational materials science and mechanics to inform design of materials, having lead-authored a related textbook (Integrated Design of Multiscale, Multifunctional Materials and Products, Elsevier, 2010, ISBN-13: 978-1-85617-662-0). Recent emphasis has been placed on uncertainty quantification in multiscale materials modeling (Uncertainty in Multiscale Materials Modeling, Eds. Y. Wang and D.L. McDowell, Elsevier, 2020, ISBN: 9780081029411). Applications of current interest include lightweight structural materials, materials for hot sections of aircraft gas turbine engines, armor and blast resistant systems, irradiated ferritic alloys, environmental effects in austenitic stainless steels, energetic materials, and nanocrystalline materials, among others. His research support has come from industry and government sources. Author of over 500 research articles, McDowell has advised or co-advised over 85 graduate students, including over 50 PhD students.
McDowell teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in statics, mechanical behavior of materials, continuum mechanics, computational materials science, nonlinear constitutive relations, fatigue, and nanomechanics and applications. A Fellow of the ASME, ASM, SES, and AAM, he has received of numerous engineering society awards for research and teaching, including the 1997 ASME Nadai Award, the highest distinction bestowed by the ASME Materials Division, and the 2008 Khan International Medal for outstanding life-long contributions to the field of metal plasticity. He was elected as a Fellow of TMS in 2020, and an Honorary Member of AIME in 2021.
Dr. McDowell served as Editor of the ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology from 1997-2002, and as Co-Editor of the International Journal of Fatigue from 2007-2020. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Multiscale Modeling and npj:Computational Materials He served a term as President of the Society of Engineering Science (SES) in 2002.
Within Georgia Tech, McDowell was named in 2019 as recipient of the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award, Georgia Tech’s highest annual award bestowed on a faculty member for sustained outstanding achievement in teaching, research and service.