Starting with her time at Penn State, Ellen Arruda has enjoyed life on a large college campus and she continues to visit one each and every day.

She received her B.S. in engineering science in 1985, when it was the only honors program in the College. She decided to continue her education at Penn State and went on to receive her M.S. in engineering mechanics in 1988.

While at the University, Arruda developed a close relationship with the late Rick Queeney, her former undergraduate and master's thesis adviser, and still remains in close contact with his entire family. He helped her realize that she wanted to continue doing research in an academic environment.

After graduating from Penn State, she continued her education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she earned her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.

Arruda is currently a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan and teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses.

The undergraduate courses she teaches focus on solid mechanics.

"We teach the students about the mechanical properties of materials and how to design materials that do not fail," explains Arruda. "We also educate the students on various failure mechanisms in materials and the ways for them to design safely."

At the graduate level, Arruda teaches a mechanics of polymers course and a continuum mechanics course.

She returns to University Park a few times a year and is a member of the Penn State Engineering Science and Mechanics Alumni Advisory Board, which actively works to advance the department?s worldwide recognition and establish an active network of alumni and students.

Arruda is also a fellow in the Society of Engineering Science (SES), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Academy of Mechanics.

She serves on the editorial boards of the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, the Mechanics of Time Dependent Materials Journal and the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Journal.

"These organizations have several conferences a year," says Arruda. "I particularly like the SES conference because it is usually held on a college campus and has an academic flavor." Arruda is currently co-organizing a networking and mentoring workshop for junior women faculty, in their first three-years of academic appointment, at engineering schools in the Big Ten Conference. Senior women faculty will be the mentors at the workshop and also in attendance will be five deans from the Big Ten Conference. "Senior women faculty and the deans recognize how important it is to do this mentoring activity," explained Arruda.

The workshop is being funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and by donations from a few of the deans.

Arruda has more than 40 journal publications and is recognized as an expert in elastomer, polymer, composite and soft tissue mechanics and also in tissue engineering.

The busy professor is also a wife and mother of two daughters.

Source: Mallory Jaroski