Dr. Walter D. Pilkey, a native of Richland, Washington, received his B.A. (Humanities), M.S. (Engineering Sciences), and Ph.D. (Engineering Science and Mechanics) from Washington State University, Purdue University, and Penn State University, respectively. While in college, he worked as a smokejumper in Missoula, Montana. During his tenure as a research scientist at the IIT Research Institute in Chicago, he spent almost two years of service in Afghanistan as a visiting faculty member at Kabul University. Since 1969, he has been associated with the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, where he was the Chairman of the Applied Mechanics Division. He is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards, a Japanese Society of Sciences Award, a NAVSEA Chair, and a von Humboldt Award.

Dr. Pilkey’s research interests include the mechanics of solids, structural dynamics, shoreline conservation, crashworthiness, and impact/injury biomechanics. Recently, he has been concentrating on applying open-loop control theory to the optimal protection of humans from impact loading. He founded the University of Virginia’s impact injury program. Dr. Pilkey has published many technical papers and books in the area of engineering mechanics and structures, and he served as editor for several journals. Currently, Dr. Pilkey is the Morse Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with courtesy positions in Plastic Surgery and Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia.

NOTE: Two of our Centennial Fellows are spotlighted each week.