Robert O. Ritchie

H. T. & Jessie Chua Distinguished Professor of Engineering
Chair, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

www.lbl.gov/Ritchie

RORitchie@lbl.gov

EDUCATION

B.A. (Physics & Metallurgy), Cambridge University, UK, 1969

M.A. (Materials Science), Cambridge University, UK, 1973

Ph.D. (Materials Science), Cambridge University, UK, 1973

Sc.D. (Materials Science), Cambridge University, UK, 1990

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Professor of Materials Science, University of California at Berkeley, 1982 to date

Head, Ceramic Materials, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2003 to date

Head, Structural Materials, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1995 to 2003

Faculty Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1984 to date

Honorary Visiting Professor, University of Plymouth, UK, 1992 to 2002

Director, Center for Advanced Materials, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1987-95

Deputy Director, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1990-94

Visiting Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, 1994

Class of 1922 Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1979-81

Assistant Professor, 1977-78; Associate Professor, 1978-81; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Miller Research Fellow, University of California at Berkeley, 1974-76

Goldsmith's Research Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge University, UK, 1972-74

MAJOR RESEARCH AREAS

Mechanical behavior of hard mineralized tissue: bone, teeth;
High-cycle fatigue of turbine engine alloys: Ti-6Al-4V; Ni-base alloys; grain-boundary engineering;
Fatigue and fracture of ceramic and intermetallic materials: Toughening mechanisms in monolithic and composite materials (e.g., SiC, gamma-TiAl); layered structures; mechanisms of fatigue-crack propagation at ambient to elevated temperatures; role of microstructure;
Ceramic/metal interfaces: Fracture mechanics of bimaterial interfaces; strength and toughness of interfaces; interfacial subcritical crack growth; crack path considerations;
Damage-tolerance and life prediction in biomedical implants: Fracture and fatigue properties of metallic and pyrolytic carbon materials for stents and prosthetic heart valve devices;
Fracture and fatigue of silicon films for MEMS devices: Micro- and nano-scale fatigue testing; protective coatings;
Mechanical propertites of carbon nanotubes
Fracture and fatigue in shape-memory alloys and bulk amorphous metals

AWARDS and FELLOWSHIPS

Wöhler Medal (European Structural Integrity Society), 2006
Nadai Medal (ASME), 2004
Fellow of TMS, 2004
ASTM Fatigue Lecturer, 2004
Fellow of the Institute of Physics, UK, 2003
Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, 2002
Member, National Academy of Engineering, 2001
Honorary Member of Gruppo Italiano Frattura (Italian Fracture Group), 1999
Distinguished Structural Materials Scientists / Engineer Award (TMS), 1996
Rosenhain Medal, Institute of Materials, London, UK, 1992
Most Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment Award in Ceramics, Dept. of Energy, 1989
Honorary Fellow, International Congress on Fracture, 1989
Fellow, Amercian Society for Materials (ASM Intl.) 1988
Curtis W. McGraw Research Award, American Society of Engineering Education, 1987
George R. Irwin Medal, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), 1985
Champion H. Mathewson Gold Medal, TMS-AIME, 1985
Named as one of America's Top 100 Young Scientists by Science Digest magazine, 1984
Fellow, Institute of Materials, London, UK, 1983
Most Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment Award: Metallurgy, Dept. of Energy, 1982
Marcus A. Grossman Award, Amercian Society for Metals (ASM), 1980

NAMED LECTURES

Arthur Newell Talbot Lecture (Theor. & Appl. Mech., University of Illinois), 2006
Hsun Kee Lecture Award (Institute of Metals Research, Shenyang, China), 2006
Kreidl Memorial Lecture (Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories), 2005
IBM Distinguished Lecturer (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), 2004
C. J. Beevers Memorial Lecturer, International Fatigue Congress, 1999
Southwest Mechanics Series Lecturer, 1997-98
Van Horn Distinguished Lecturer (Case Western Reserve University), 1997

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

President, International Congress on Fracture, 1997-2001
Member, U.C. San Francisco/U.C. Berkeley Bioengineering Faculty, 1995 to date
Member, National Research Council Committees on Advanced Space Technology, 1992-1994, Small Spacecraft Technology, 1993-1994, and New Materials for Civil Aircraft, 1994-1995
Governor, International Congress on Mechanical Behavior of Materials, 1987-95
Associate Editor, Materials Transactions, 2001 to date; Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 2000 to date; Transactions of ISI Japan International, 1997 to date; Engineering Failure Analysis, 1994 to date; Physiochemical Mechanics of Materials, 1993 to date; Mechanics of Materials, 1987 to date; Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 1979 to date; International Journal of Fatigue, 2002 to date; International Journal of Fracture, 2002 to date; Journal of Engineering Materials & Technology, 1984-90; Journal of Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 1999 to date; Metallurgical Transactions, 1982-92
Co-chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Physical Metallurgy, 1992

Selected Publications

Ritchie Research Group
MSD , LBNL
Dept of MSME , UC Berkeley

last updated 03/06