December 2, 2021
The Applied Mechanics Division (AMD) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has selected Nanshu Lu, an associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (ASE/EM) at UT Austin, to receive the 2022 Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award. Shawn Chester, an associate professor of New Jersey Institute of Technology, was selected jointly with Lu to receive the award.
The award, established in 1998, was renamed the Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award in 2008 in honor of ASE/EM Professor Thomas Hughes, an internationally known expert in computational engineering and sciences. It recognizes special achievements of young researchers in applied mechanics. ASE/EM Professor Chad Landis was also recognized with the award in 2008.
Lu, who holds the Temple FDN Endowed Teaching Fellowship in ENG # 1, has courtesy appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and the Texas Materials Institute.
Lu’s innovative, interdisciplinary and inclusive research group works to advance the mechanics, materials, electronics, and bio-integration of soft electronics. Examples of her work includes stretchable, wearable, ultrathin e-tattoos that monitor the body’s vital signs, “cut-solder-paste” manufacture of wireless and modular e-tattoos, mechanics of stretchable serpentines, mechanics of micro-bubbles and tents, mechanics of crater-based physically enhanced adhesives, graphene e-tattoos (GETs) and most recently, hybrid response pressure sensors.
Lu has published over 100 peer reviewed journal articles and has two issued and five pending patents. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Programs, the MIT’s Technology Review 35 under 35 (TR 35), the 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, the iCANx/ACS Nano Rising Star lectureship and the NetExplo Grand Prix. She is a fellow member of IAAM and has been named a highly cited researcher by the Web of Science Group and Clarivate for the past two years.
The AMD Hughes award includes a medal, a certificate and an honorarium, which will be presented to Lu at the AMD Awards Banquet during the 2022 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition.
