Tod Alan Laursen | American University of Sharjah
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Profile

College / Department

College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Teaching areas

Engineering mechanics, continuum mechanics, theory of elasticity, inelasticity, finite element methods

Research areas

Nonlinear computational mechanics

Education

PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1992
MS, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1989
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Oregon State University, 1986

Professional experience

Chancellor, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2023 - Present
Educational Consultant, The HOW Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria, 2023 - 2023
Acting President, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, State University of New York, New York, United States, 2021 - 2022
Provost And Senior Vice Chancellor, State University of New York, New York, United States, 2018 - 2020
President And Professor, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2010 - 2018
Chair And Professor, Department Of Mechanical Engineering And Materials Science (secondary Appointments In Civil And Environmental Engineering, Biomedical Engineering), Duke University, North Carolina, United States, 2008 - 2010
Senior Associate Dean For Education And Professor, Pratt School Of Engineering (primary Appointment In Civil And Environmental Engineering; Secondary Appointments In Mechanical Engineering And Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering), Duke University, North Carolina, United States, 2003 - 2008
Yoh Family Associate Professor, Civil And Environmental Engineering (secondary Appointments In Mechanical Engineering And Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering), Duke University, North Carolina, United States, 1999 - 2003
Faculty Sabbatical Employee, Sandia National Laboratories, United States, 2001 - 2001
Associate Professor, Civil And Environmental Engineering (secondary Appointment In Mechanical Engineering And Materials Science), Duke University, North Carolina, United States, 1998 - 1999
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering (secondary Appointment In Mechanical Engineering And Materials Science), Duke University, North Carolina, United States, 1992 - 1998

Memberships

Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (elected 2008)
Fellow, International Association for Computational Mechanics (elected 2010)
Fellow, United States Association for Computational Mechanics (elected 2013)
Member, American Society for Engineering Education
Member, Pi Tau Sigma, National Honorary Mechanical Engineering Fraternity
Member, Tau Beta Pi, The National Engineering Honor Society

Contact

[email protected]

Tod Alan Laursen

Chancellor
PhD, Stanford University,

Tod A. Laursen is the Chancellor of the American University of Sharjah. He is trained as a mechanical engineer, and his scholarly area of research is computational mechanics. His teaching and research career spans three decades, with his scholarly work in nonlinear solid mechanics focused on the prediction tools that engineers and scientists use in the analysis of mechanical contact, impact, and friction. He has held academic appointments in three fields of engineering (mechanical, civil and biomedical), and he is a fellow of three professional societies: the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM) and the International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM).

Publications

W. Trickey, F. Baaijens, T. Laursen, L. Alexopoulos And F. Guilak. Determination of the Poisson’s Ratio of the Cell: Recovery Properties of Chondrocytes After Release from Complete Micropipette Aspiration, Journal Of Biomechanics, 2006
B. Yang, T. Laursen And X. Meng. Two Dimensional Mortar Contact Methods for Large Deformation Frictional Sliding, International Journal For Numerical Methods In Engineering, 2005
M. Puso And T. Laursen. A Mortar Segment-to-Segment Contact Method for Large Deformation Solid Mechanics, Computer Methods In Applied Mechanics And Engineering, 2004
M. Puso And T. Laursen. A Mortar Segment-to-Segment Frictional Contact Method for Large Deformations, Computer Methods In Applied Mechanics And Engineering, 17 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2004
T. Laursen. Computational Contact and Impact Mechanics: Fundamentals of Modeling Interfacial Phenomena in Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis, 2003
T. Mcdevitt And T. Laursen. A Mortar-Finite Element Formulation for Frictional Contact Problems, International Journal For Numerical Methods In Engineering, 2000
T. Laursen And V. Chawla. Design of Energy Conserving Algorithms for Frictionless Dynamic Contact Problems, International Journal For Numerical Methods In Engineering, 1997
T. Laursen And J. Simo. A Continuum-Based Finite Element Formulation for the Implicit Solution of Multibody, Large Deformation Frictional Contact Problems, International Journal For Numerical Methods In Engineering, 1993
T. Laursen And J. Simo. A Study of the Mechanics of Microindentation Using Finite Elements, Journal Of Materials Research, 1992
J. Simo And T. Laursen. An Augmented Lagrangian Treatment of Contact Problems Involving Friction, Computers And Structures, 1992

Awards and Honors

Oregon State University Academy of Distinguished Engineers Award, 2010
Oregon State University Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers Award, 1998
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 1997
Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, 1997

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