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Richard D. James
Distinguished McKnight University Professor

Richard James' main area of research is phase transformations in materials - especially shape memory and multiferrroic materials - at large and small scales. This involves the development of mathematical methods for the analysis of materials at atomic and continuum scales, especially the development of multiscale methods for understanding the relation between the behavior of materials on different scales. It also involves advanced methods of bulk synthesis and characterization of new materials in his laboratory, guided by theory. He is currently applying these ideas to the search for interesting materials in several areas:

1. The search for new materials that combine two of the three properties - ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, shape-memory - particularly by using a highly reversible phase transformation, or, in short, multiferroic materials by phase transformation.
2. The search for new transforming materials with exceptionally low hysteresis and a high degree of reversibility.
3. The use of these multiferroic, phase-change materials in new kinds of energy conversion devices. In particular, members of his group recently discovered a new way to use these materials to convert heat to electricity.
4. The prediction of properties of transforming materials and structures at very small scales. Part of this research involves the study of a remarkable phase transformation that occurs in the tail sheath of bacteriophage T4, a virus that attacks bacteria.
5. The search for new nanostructures based on the concept of "objective structures". These are molecular structures composed of identical molecules such that corresponding molecules "see" the same environment up to orthogonal transformation. These structures have an intriguing relation to the common structures, whether crystalline of not, of most elements in the periodic table, and they are occur often also in biology, especially in viruses. They are also the natural structures to exhibit unusual properties like ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, and other collective properties, and are especially amenable to methods of synthesis by the process of self-assembly. We are investigating all these aspects of objective structures.

Degrees

Sc.B., Engineering, Brown University, 1974
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1979

Experience

1998 - Present: Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1991 - Present: Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

2001 - 2011: Russell J. Penrose Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1985 - 1991: Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1981 - 1985: Assistant Professor, Division of Engineering, Brown University

1979-1980: Research Fellow in Mechanics and Thermodynamics, University of Minnesota

Five Recent Publications

• Y. Hakobyan, E. B. Tadmor, and R. D. James , 2012, Objective quasicontinuum approach for rod problems, PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 86, 245435, (Journal Article) More Details, Request PDF
• J. Buschbeck, J. K. Kawasaki, A. Kozanov, R. D. James and C. J. Palmstrom, 2011, Martensite transformation of epitaxial Ni–Ti films, Applied Physics Letters, 98, 191901, (Journal Article) More Details, Request PDF
• Remi Delville, Hui Shi, Richard D. James and Dominique Schryvers, 2011, Special Microstructures and twin features in Ti50Ni50-x(Pd,Au)x at small hysteresis, Solid State Phenomena, Vols. 172-174, 105-110, (Journal Article) More Details, Request PDF
• Vijay Srivastava, Yintao Song, Kanwal Bhatti and R. D. James, 2011, The direct conversion of heat to electricity using multiferroic alloys, Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 1, 97-104, (Journal Article) More Details, Request PDF
• Xian Chen, Wim Tirry, Teruyuki Ikeda, Vijay Srivastava, G. Jerey Snyder, Dominique Schryvers and Richard D. James, 2011, A weak compatibility condition for precipitation with application to the microstructure of PbTe-Sb2Te3 thermoelectrics, Acta Materialia, vol. 59, 6124-6132, (Journal Article) More Details, Request PDF

See more publications

Honors and Fellowships

Brown Engineering Alumni Medal, Brown University, 2009

Background

William Prager Medal, Society of Engineering Science, 2008

Background

Warner T. Koiter Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2008

Background;

Co-advisor (with P. H. Leo) to Liping Liu, winner of the Best Dissertation Award in the Physical Sciences and Engineering (2008) at the University of Minnesota, 2008

Honorary Consultant Professorship, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, 2007

Background

Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award, 2006

Background;

John von Neumann Professorship, TU Munich

Background

Mary Shepard B. Upson Visiting Chair, Cornell University College of Engineering, 2002
Rothschild Visiting Professor, 1999

Background

Cambridge University Best Paper award, ASME/SPIE Smart Materials

Distinguished McKnight University Professor, 1998

Background

Fellow, American Academy of Mechanics, 1997

Background

Featured Review (in Mathematical Reviews)

Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, Term I, 1993

Background

George Taylor Distinguished Research Award, Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, 1991

Background

IBM Fellow, the Johns Hopkins University, 1976 - 1978

Background

Editorial Positions

1999 - Present: Chief Editor with J.M. Ball,

Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis

1998 - Present: Editorial board,

Interfaces and Free Boundaries

1997 - Present: Editorial Advisor,

Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids

1996 - Present: Editorial Board,

Journal of Elasticity

1991 - 1998: Editorial Board,

Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis

1989 - Present: Editorial board,

Journal of Intelligent Materials and Structures,

Technomic Publishing (begun January 1989, relaunched January 1993)

1988 - Present: Editorial Board,

Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics,Springer-Verlag

Current Courses

Undergraduate

AEM 2021 -- Statics and Dynamics | Course Home Page

Subjects and Courses Taught

Undergraduate

AEM 2021 -- Statics and Dynamics

AEM 4581 -- Mechanics of Solids

AEM 4602W -- Aeromechanics Laboratory

Graduate

AEM 5503 -- Theory of Elasticity

AEM 8500 -- Research Seminar in Mechanics of Materials

AEM 8541 -- Mechanics of Crystalline Solids

AEM 8551 -- Multiscale Methods for Bridging Length and Time Scales

AEM 8595 -- Selected Topics in Mechanics and Materials

Curriculum Vitae

Brief Biographical Sketch

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Last Modified: 2013-02-21 at 10:36:15 -- this is in International Standard Date and Time Notation