Timothy Healey, Cornell professor of theoretical and applied mechanics, will be chair of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics for a five-year term, starting July 1. Currently, Healey is associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering.
In announcing the appointment, John Hopcroft, dean of the College of Engineering, said that Healey's "high level of commitment to the college, to the undergraduates and their parents, and to the faculty has been commendable." He added, "I am very pleased that Tim is willing to take on this new role and am confident that he will provide the strong leadership necessary to maintain the excellence of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics."
Healey succeeds James Jenkins, professor of theoretical and applied mechanics, who served as chair for eight years. Hopcroft noted that Jenkins has done "an outstanding job of providing leadership and vision for the department."
After receiving a B.S. from the University of Missouri in 1976 and an M.S. in civil engineering from the University of Illinois in 1978, Healey worked as a licensed structural engineer for Agbabian Associates of Los Angeles for two years. He then returned to Illinois and completed his doctoral work in mechanics and applied mathematics.
In 1984-85 Healey was a visiting assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. He joined Cornell's faculty in 1985.
Healey is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Elasticity. He has been a visiting professor of mathematics at the école polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and at the University of Sydney. At Cornell he won the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1993 and 1996.
In research, he is interested in nonlinear elasticity and nonlinear analysis, with applications to flexible structures and solids, and also to matensitic phase transitions. In particular, he is interested in the use of bifurcation theory in such problems governed by partial differential equations.
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