Chasiotis, Freund win 2010 Xerox Awards for Faculty Research

4/8/2013 Written by Susan Mumm

The College of Engineering at Illinois has selected Aerospace Engineering Associate Profs. Ioannis Chasiotis and Jonathan B. Freund for the 2010 Xerox Awards for Faculty Research.

Written by Written by Susan Mumm

Ioannis Chasiotis
Ioannis Chasiotis
Associate Prof. Ioannis Chasiotis

The College of Engineering at Illinois has selected Aerospace Engineering Associate Profs. Ioannis Chasiotis and Jonathan B. Freund for the 2010 Xerox Awards for Faculty Research.

Having first won the Xerox Award in 2006 as an Assistant Professor, Chasiotis is widely recognized for his work in experimental mechanics, particularly in micro- and nanoscale mechanical behavior of materials. On the AE faculty since 2005, Chasiotis’ research involves the design and application of experimental methods to investigate the structural response and failure of MEMS and nanostructures.

Chasiotis has been very productive—publishing 25 journal articles and three book chapters since joining the Department of Aerospace Engineering, among them a landmark paper reporting the first direct measurements of local deformation and crack growth in polycrystalline thin films—materials widely used in MEMS devices—with important implications in probabilistic analysis of brittle failure of a wide range of materials. More recently, his group reported on the very first deformation experiments with nanofibers and thin films at small time scales, which will elucidate fast physical phenomena at the nanoscale.

As a testament to the creativity, breadth, and depth of his work, Chasiotis’ funding record includes substantial support from NSF, NASA, AFOSR, ARO, ONR, and DARPA. His research has been widely recognized with fourbest paper awards, the ONR Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Xerox Award for Faculty Research (Assistant Professor), and two First Prizes in the Sandia MEMS Design Competition. He was recently named winner of an NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)—the highest honor bestowed by the federal government for outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

Chasiotis is an associate editor for Experimental Mechanics and he was recently named a Willett Faculty Scholar in the College of Engineering.

Associate Prof. Jonathan B. Freund
Associate Prof. Jonathan B. Freund
Associate Prof. Jonathan B. Freund

Freund, who is jointly appointed in Aerospace Engineering (33%) and Mechanical Science and Engineering (67%), has been at Illinois since 2001 where hehas emerged as one of the most recognized and talented researchers and leaders in the international fluid mechanics community.

Early in his career, he undertook the first-ever accurate simulations of turbulent jets and their sound fields, and the results are still the benchmark for research in the field. A graphic image from that work was chosen in 2000 for the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics Gallery of Fluid Motion.

Freund’s current research, funded by NASA, seeks to optimize the actions of actuators for actively suppressing jet noise. In addition, he has led the research efforts of the Fluids and Combustion Division of the Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets at Illinois.

Freund’s ability to see through the complexity of physical systems and to develop original and plausible models for them has also led to several key health-related discoveries – such as mechanisms for the collateral damage to kidney tissues that occurs during shock-wave lithotripsy, and the transport of red and white blood cells in microvessels. This work was recognized in 2008 when APS’s Fluid Dynamics Division recognized Freund with the Francois Frenkiel Award.

Freund currently advises seven doctoral students and has already graduated four doctoral and six master's degree students. A prolific author, Freund has published 42 articles in top journals, and he has lectured throughout the world on a variety of topics.


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This story was published April 8, 2013.