I am working on my PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Neb. and have enrolled inES 242r because failure modes of many orthopedic implants can be attributed to initial flaws & fractures of material coatings.  This course, albeit, focuses on ductile materials, the principles seem relevant.

I did my undergraduate work in Astronautical Engr (Course 16) at MIT & graduate in EE at Stanford.

I have been exposed to fracture mechanics in my job experience when I was assigned as the QC engineer for a satellite put into orbit by the European Space Agency.  They built a satellite by the name "XMM/Newton" telescope.  The X-ray spectrometer was built from SiC and there was serious concern of the optics surviving the launch environment.  My group was responsible for establishing non-destructive test criteria for the device & verification testing of the device to be sure it could withstand the accelerations & acoutic spectra imposed during the launch of an Ariane-V launch vehicle.  It was an exciting project!!!!