Judith Todd, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, was elected a fellow of the Society of Engineering Science. Credit: Penn State College of Engineering. All Rights Reserved.
Engineering professor elected fellow of Society of Engineering Science
October 25, 2023
By Mariah R. Lucas
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Judith Todd, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, was elected a fellow of the Society of Engineering Science (SES). She was recognized for this achievement at the SES Annual Technical Meeting held Oct. 8-11 at the University of Minnesota.
SES promotes the strengthening of the interfaces between the various disciplines in engineering, science and mathematics. Fellows are “distinguished in some field in which the society has interest” and have made contributions to the society and the technical community that justify the honor, according to SES. Additionally, fellows must be regular or life members of the society for at least five years.
As head of the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at the time, Todd oversaw the SES 2002 and SES 2006 annual meetings, both of which were held at Penn State. She was invited to serve on the SES board from 2005 to 2011, and in 2009, she served as president of the society. As a board member and president, she promoted the interdisciplinary nature of the engineering sciences, the integration of theoretical and applied mechanics across multiple disciplines, the formation of a National Mechanics Institute and the first multi-society meeting of SES, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2009. Additionally, during Todd’s leadership tenure in SES, the annual SES meetings grew from about 250 attendees in 2002 to over 1,000 in 2022.
Todd’s research interests include the development of advanced materials and manufacturing processes, laser-sustained plasma and laser-materials interactions, mechanical behavior, and the nondestructive evaluation of materials and archaeometry. She has published more than 100 technical papers and holds two U.S. patents.
Todd is also a fellow and honorary member of ASME, where she served as vice president of the Manufacturing Technology Group from 2002 to 2005; a fellow of ASM International, where she served as president in 2021-22; and a fellow of the Association of Women in Science. Todd has received numerous awards including the Vanadium Award from the British Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the ASME Board on Minorities and Women Award and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, which she received from then-President George W. Bush in 2007.
From 2008-12, Todd served as an ex-officio member of the U.S. National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and was selected as the 2010 Congress Chair for the U.S. National Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Share this story:
