Academics

Bakis inducted into Virginia Tech Academy of Engineering Excellence

Charles E. Bakis, Distinguished Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, was recently inducted into Virginia Tech's College of Engineering Academy of Engineering Excellence. Credit: Paul HaziAll Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Charles E. Bakis, Distinguished Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, is a 2015 inductee into Virginia Tech's College of Engineering Academy of Engineering Excellence.

He joins an elite group of 135 individuals out of more than 60,000 living Virginia Tech engineering alumni.

Virginia Tech's Academy of Engineering Excellence was founded in 1999 by F. William Stephenson, past dean of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, and the college's advisory board. Inductees are Virginia Tech engineering graduates who have made continuous and admirable engineering or leadership contributions during their careers.

Bakis has been a Penn State faculty member since 1988. His research focuses on the development of lightweight composite materials, energy absorbing composites for crash-worthy vehicles, nano-reinforced composites and thermomechanical behavior and durability of composites used in civil construction.

As the co-principal investigator at the Graduate Automotive Technology Education Center, a program within the Larson Transportation Institute at Penn State, Bakis and his students have designed and manufactured ultra-high speed composite flywheel energy storage systems for hybrid electric vehicles. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and the National Science Foundation have also funded his research on biologically inspired composites with actively changeable shape and stiffness.

Bakis has advised or co-advised 34 master's students and 17 doctoral students; published more than 290 journal and conference papers; and has been the principal or co-principal investigator of more than 100 externally funded projects.

Since 2003, Bakis has served as the editor-in-chief of the American Society of Civil Engineers' Journal for Composites Construction. He has organized or co-organized nine conferences and he chairs international committees that develop standard test methods for composite materials in civil infrastructure.

Bakis's awards and honors include the 1996 Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) Outstanding Teaching Award, the 2006 American Society for Composites (ASC) Award in Composites, the 2010 PSEAS Outstanding Research Award, and the 2014 International Institute for Fiber Reinforced Polymers in Construction (IIFC) President's Award.

Bakis is a fellow of the ASC, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the IIFC. In 2013, he was elected president of the ASC.

He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University and his master's and doctorate degrees in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech.

Last Updated April 24, 2015

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