ES 240

I took the course of Theory of Elasticity during my undergraduate study and the course of Finite Element Method during my master's study.  And my major is Engineering Mechanics. Therefore, I have some fundamental knowledge in solid mechanics but not enough, since I have no background in the aspects of plasticity and large deformation theory. I am currently doing research under Professor Suo's group (http://www.seas.harvard.edu/suo/) and my research topic will focus on gel which is a kind of soft material.

My name is Eric Kiser. I am part of the seismology group at EPS.  I am currently working on a back-projection method for imaging earthquakes.  My undergraduate major was in geology at the University of Illinois.  Some of the topics we are covering in ES 240 I have seen in my undergraduate geophysics classes.  I'm hoping to obtain a better understanding of stress and strain from this course, so I can apply it to physical properties within the Earth.

Hi everyone

   - my prior courses are mechancis of materials (ES 120) and intro to material science (ES 190)

   - I am pursuing Harvard's co-terminal AB/SM degree, and have finished my undergraduate requirements in engineering scinces with a focus on Mechanical Engineering

   - A definate plus is having taken the undergraduate class only a few years ago, and having much of the material presented in a very similar style which i have grown accustomed to.  My weakness is always the math.

I have got the master degree of Solid Mechanics in University of Science and Technology of China. Actually, I have taken several courses related to this subject, such as strength of materials and the theory of elasticity. So, my strength may be that I have some  knowledge about it, but my poor ability to solve PDE or even ODE could be the specific obstacle for studying this course. I will do research in Suo’s group(http://www.seas.harvard.edu/suo/), and my research may be related to soft matters, such as gels.

 My name is Maria Persson Gulda. I am a first year grad student at Harvard. I did my undergrad in Engineering Physics, with a minor in Applied Math, at University of Colorado at Boulder.

The classes from my undergrad that are closest related to this course are Classical Mechanics and Solid State Physics. I think my strength in ES 240 will be my applied math knowledge and my weakness will be my lack of courses in mechanics and/or materials.

This entry is meant to summarize my personal information, and the reasons why I am taking this class.  Here are my responses to the bulleted topics:

 - I have taken three courses relating to solid mechanics prior to ES 240.  These were undergraduate classes taken at the Univ. of Delaware and they include:  (1)  Mechanics of Solids, (2) Material Science and Engineering,  (3) Design of Machinery

- My undergraduate major was Mechanical Engineering

Part 4 of Elements of Elasticity. Please see attached.

This problem set is due on Friday, Oct. 12.