Academics

Engineering professor honored by two national societies

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Charles Bakis, distinguished professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) and director of the Penn State Composite Materials Laboratory, was selected for the 2020 Wayne W. Stinchcomb Memorial Lecture and Award by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee D30 on Composite Materials. He will receive the award and present the named lecture at the 2020 American Society for Composites (ASC) conference, held virtually from Sept. 14-17.

Charles Bakis, distinguished professor of engineering science and mechanics, has been selected for the 2020 Wayne W. Stinchcomb Memorial Lecture and Award. Credit: Penn State College of Engineering / Penn StateCreative Commons

The distinction was established in 1995 to honor the late Wayne W. Stinchcomb, an ASTM fellow and past Committee D30 chair who was known for his exceptional technical and administrative leadership, as well as his contributions as an educator and researcher. Award recipients are chosen for contributions in composite materials research, engineering or teaching; service to Committee D30 or another composite materials technological organization; or other work in the area of composite materials.

“Dr. Bakis has led the development of new standards to ensure the safe implementation of advanced composite materials,” said Judith Todd, department head of ESM and P.B. Breneman Chair. “Dr. Bakis epitomizes the spirit of the Wayne Stinchcomb award. He is a leader par excellence in his field.”

As Penn State’s sole voting representative since 1988, Bakis has aligned with the ideals of the award in his service to ASTM Committee D30. He co-founded Subcommittee D30.10 on Composites for Civil Structures to develop testing standards and material performance standards for fiber-reinforced composites used to reinforce concrete. In ASC, Bakis has served as editor, recording secretary, vice president, president and past president on the executive committee.

Another key consideration for award recipients is their role in the mentorship of composite materials engineers. Like Stinchcomb, who served as Bakis’ graduate adviser and doctoral co-adviser, Bakis has also devoted significant time and energy to these efforts. Within Committee D30 and Subcommittee D30.10, Bakis has mentored younger members in writing ASTM standards to improve product quality and safety. Bakis has also provided guidance to numerous ASC members, including multiple presidents, to encourage their leadership and professional development.

As a component of receiving the Stinchcomb award, Bakis will also present the 2020 Wayne W. Stinchcomb Memorial Lecture at the annual ACS conference. He will discuss the reciprocity between academic research and the establishment of standard test methods and material specifications.

“Performing research using experimental and simulation methods can inform the creation of test standards,” Bakis said. “In the other direction, using test standards that were developed by other committees may not suit our research goals, so in those cases we investigate further to write modified test methods based on extant methods.”

Bakis’ research investigates the manufacturing, testing and modeling of composite materials with broad applications in civil, aerospace and mechanical engineering; energy infrastructure, storage and devices; structural and human health monitoring; and more. He came to Penn State in 1988 after earning his doctoral degree in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech.

Bakis is a 2006 recipient of the ASC Award in Composites and has been an ASC fellow since 2010. A fellow of the American Concrete Institute, he has been a voting member of Committee 440 on fiber-reinforced polymers since 1999 and has chaired its subcommittee, 440-K on Fiber-reinforced Polymer Material Characteristics, since 2004. He was editor-in-chief for the Journal of Composites for Construction, a publication of the American Society of Civil Engineers, from 2003 to 2016.

 

Last Updated September 21, 2020

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