A postdoctoral associate position at MIT is available immediately, focused on elucidating the fundamental material science concepts that control the formation, behavior and in particular mechanical failure and fracture of fibrous amyloid protein materials. Amyloids form pathogens in diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s), play a role in defining the properties of spider silk, and are found in many natural adhesives. These beta-sheet rich protein structures constitute an intriguing class of protein materials that self-assemble at room temperature to form characteristic hierarchical nanostructures and fibers, which combine exceptional strength and sturdiness, elasticity with bioactivity and the ability to self-heal. 

A postdoctoral associate position at MIT is available immediately, focused on the analysis and development of bioinspired, adaptive thermal management structures, by using theoretical and atomistic multi-scale modeling and simulation.

I just read Teng Li's entry regarding the launch of SEAS at Harvard.  Thanks for posting this interesting information!  

On this occasion, I'd also like express my congratulations to Harvard
University in launching the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
(SEAS) last week!  It is terrific that the engineering science community in the Boston area is thriving and developing.  Best of luck, and looking forward to fruitful interactions in the future!  

Markus Buehler of MIT

I found an interesting paper on the arXiv website that may interest some mechanicians.  Markus

Title:  Brittle fracture down to femto-Joules — and below

Authors: J. Astrom, P.C.F. Di Stefano, F. Probst, L. Stodolsky, J. Timonen 

There have been several posts recently discussing new directions in computational mechanics. Here is a review article that appeared recently that may be of interest.

Large-scale hierarchical molecular modeling of nanostructured biological materials

Using concepts of hierarchical multi-scale modeling, we report development of a mesoscopic model for single wall carbon nanotubes with parameters completely derived from full atomistic simulations. The parameters in the mesoscopic model are fit to reproduce elastic, fracture and adhesion properties of carbon nanotubes, in this article demonstrated for (5,5) carbon nanotubes. The mesoscale model enables one to model the dynamics of systems with hundreds of ultra-long carbon nanotubes over time scales approaching microseconds.