Doug Adams, Vanderbilt University School of Engineering’s Daniel F. Flowers Professor, was among the endowed chair recipients recognized at a reception hosted Wednesday by Provost Susan Wente and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Jeffrey Balser.
Adams is director of the school’s new super-sized Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability, which formally opened in August in Nashville’s Metro Center. It features a wind tunnel to test turbine blades, a Hummer to test vehicle performance in various scenarios, and a CH-53A Super Stallion Airframe to test sensors that detect impact and damage. Adams’ research is supported by the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and he partners with several large defense contractors and equipment manufacturers.
Recruited last year from Purdue University, Adams also serves as distinguished professor and chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
He has published more than 200 archival journal papers and conference papers, several book chapters, and a textbook on structural health monitoring. He has generated 13 patents and secured industrial contracts and grants totaling $29 million in funding.
The chair’s namesake, Daniel Fort Flowers, attended graduate school at Vanderbilt and was the 1993 recipient of the Vanderbilt School of Engineering Outstanding Service Award. He served as an experimental engineering officer during World War II, developing and testing aircraft. Flowers worked in the family engineering and manufacturing firm, Differential Steel Car Company in Ohio, until his death in 2013.
Contact:
Heidi Hall, (615) 322-6614
Heidi.Hall@Vanderbilt.edu
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