Cesar A. Sciammarella

Cesar A. Sciammarella is Professor Emeritus in the Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Department at Illinois Institute of Technology. For 37 years he was the Director of the world-renowned Experimental Mechanics Laboratory of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Northern Illinois University. From 1991-1998, Cesar was a Non-Resident Professor at the Universita Degli Study, in Nuoro, Italy. He was Visiting...See more

Cesar A. Sciammarella is Professor Emeritus in the Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Department at Illinois Institute of Technology. For 37 years he was the Director of the world-renowned Experimental Mechanics Laboratory of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Northern Illinois University. From 1991-1998, Cesar was a Non-Resident Professor at the Universita Degli Study, in Nuoro, Italy. He was Visiting Professor at the following institutions: Polytechnic Institute of Milano (1972, 1976); University of Cagliari (1979); Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne (1979); Univeristy of Poitiers (1980); and Polytechnic Institute of Bari (1992, 1994, 1998, 2003-2008). At the Polytechnic Institute of Bari, he completed a five-year project funded by a personal grant from the Italian government to broaden and revamp the Experimental Mechanics laboratory. After graduation from college, Cesar continued his Ph.D. on the Moiré method resulting in the first computer-supported processing of fringe patterns in 1968. He has continued this work in fringe pattern information decoding arriving to self-consistent computer-based algorithms that overcame most of the limiting factors that put constraints on other approaches guaranteeing maximum accuracy and computer efficiency. He applied these different developments to Moiré patterns, speckle patterns, holographic patterns in 2D and 3D applications, and MRI patterns. These applications cover a wide spectrum of scales, macro, micro, nanometer, sub-nanometer scales, and the levels of atomic structures. In 2006, he introduced the detection of optical signals beyond the Rayleigh limit extending holography information recovery at the nano range. Besides working on developing optical techniques applied to experimental mechanics, he has utilized these techniques and other methods of experimental mechanics to solve important engineering problems in the areas of: fracture mechanics and fatigue of metals; fracture of fiber reinforced composites; and fracture of particle reinforced metals. He has done work on bio-mechanics in such areas as damage in knee-cap replacement and problems of the stability of the vertebral column, as well as the analysis of MRI records to obtain heart displacements and strains. He has also worked in wheel and rail contact problems, and more recently has done work in laser-adding manufacturing. In addition, he participated in two important projects of the U.S. space program: the Apollo IV and the Space Shuttle program. Cesar has authored more than 350 papers and book chapters. His textbook Modern Experimental Mechanics of Solids: Theory, Techniques, Instrumentation and Applications was published by Wiley in 2012. He has received many SEM awards, including the, Hetenyi, Lazan, and Frocht awards and the William M. Murray Medal. In 2011, he received the Theocaris Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics in recognition of his pioneering efforts in developing and applying Moiré, holography, speckle interferometry methodologies, and microscopic versions of these techniques to Experimental Mechanics. In 2013, he was awarded the Honorary Membership of the Society for Experimental Mechanics--the highest honor the society awards. In 2011, the British Society for Strain Measurement awarded him and his co-workers the Fylde Electronic Price for best paper published in Strain in 2010. In 2013, a symposium titled Advances in Experimental Mechanics for Industrial Design and Automation was organized at the Polytechnic of Bari to honor his 90th birthday. It was at this symposium that he was presented with a lifetime achievement... See less