Patra elected fellow of USACM

UB Engineering faculty member Abani Patra has been elected a fellow of the United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM).

The award recognizes individuals with a “distinguished record of research, accomplishment and publication in areas of computational mechanics,” according to the association’s website.

Computational mechanics involves using computational methods and devices to characterize, predict and simulate physical events and engineering systems governed by the laws of mechanics. Examples include the crash worthiness of vehicles and predictive surgical outcomes.

Patra, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has been a UB faculty member for 19 years. During that time, he has used computational mechanics to studying everything from volcano flows to dental implants.

In addition to teaching and conducting research at UB, Patra has served a program director in the Office of Cyberinfrastructure of the National Science Foundation. He received a PhD in computational and applied mathematics from the University of Texas-Austin.

Patra will be presented with the award during the 13th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics, being held in July in San Diego.