Henry T. Yang

Henry Yang is a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chancellor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was formerly the Neil A. Armstrong Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, where he also served as the dean of engineering for 10 years and as Codirector of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems.

Yang specializes in aerospace engineering, aircraft structures, structural dynamics and control, transonic aeroelasticity, finite elements, composite materials, sensing and control of structures for wind and earthquake loads, health monitoring of buildings, machining processes, intelligent manufacturing systems, and bioinspired structural control.

He has authored or coauthored more than 180 articles for scientific journals, including 50 since becoming chancellor, as well as a widely used textbook, Finite Element Structural Analysis.

Yang is board chair of the Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory and serves on the Kavli Foundation Board. He is a past chair of the Association of American Universities and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, and served two terms as a presidential appointee to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science. Previously he has served on scientific advisory boards for the Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force, US Navy, NASA, and the Engineering Directorate of NSF, as well as the NAE Aerospace Engineering Peer Committee and Academic Advisory Board.

Yang was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1991, and is a fellow of AIAA, ASEE, and ASME. For his research, teaching, and public service he has received the ASEE Benjamin Garver Lamme Award; the AIAA 2008 Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Award.