Doug Adams has been elected a 2021 Fellow in the Society for Experimental Mechanics for his outstanding and sustained research, development and commercialization of experimental structural dynamics, nonlinear system identification and structural health monitoring technologies.
Adams is the Daniel F. Flowers Professor of Engineering and Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His contributions to education and to his exemplary service to SEM also were noted.
Adams has pioneered development and application approaches in experimental structural dynamics for materials, machines and structures by integrating sensors in engineered systems like aircraft and wind turbines to monitor how they respond and to improve their performance and reliability.
He has worked as a Principal Investigator with government and corporate sponsors in more than 130 funded programs to improve the reliability of engineered systems through innovations in the energy sector, specifically wind turbines, gas turbines and batteries; in the manufacturing sector in the composite materials, automotive and aerospace sectors, and in security sector related to military ground, air and space vehicles, missiles and munitions, and body armor.
Adams’ team has been the only university partner in two major national research initiatives led by the aviation industry with a combined funding level of over $30 million focused on monitoring for destructive loads and hidden material damage in composite, lightweight structures: U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate Capability-Based Operations and Sustainment Technology Aviation program used the UH-60 Blackhawk aircraft testbed; and U.S. Navy Future Naval Capabilities Program on Integrated Hybrid Structural Health Management System using the CH-53K Super Stallion aircraft testbed.
Adams leads an innovation incubator announced in July 2020 that amplifies existing collaborations among Vanderbilt researchers and soldiers at Fort Campbell, and builds on Vanderbilt’s partnership agreement with Army Futures Command. The project, Soldier-Inspired Innovation Incubator for Discovering Research-Based Solutions, is a cross-disciplinary program funded by Vanderbilt’s Trans-Institutional Programs (TIPs) initiative.
To enable research and student training, he founded Vanderbilt’s Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability, which is a 20,000-plus square-foot high bay laboratory with more than $12 million in state-of-the-art instrumentation for conducting experimental structural dynamics research at a realistic scale and demonstrating innovations. LASIR plays key part in the national $259 million Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) that was launched in 2015.
Adams and his students have written 91 refereed journal articles and 176 conference papers. He also is the author of a textbook on structural health monitoring as well as five book chapters on topics ranging from health monitoring of wind turbines to damage prognosis of aircraft materials. He has delivered over 100 seminars and participated in over 40 workshops nationally and internationally.
Adam has received more than a dozen research awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, both the Society for Experimental Mechanics DeMichele and Lazan Awards, and elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists and recognized as board certified environmental scientist. He has received several best paper and teaching excellence awards. Adams joined the Vanderbilt School of Engineering in 2013.
Contact: Brenda Ellis, 615 343-6314
brenda.ellis@vanderbilt.edu