URI_Research_Magazine_2011-2012_Melissa-McCarthy

“Innovative research has impacted a range of areas, from the roads in Rhode Island, to private industry, to vessels out at sea, to our soldiers around the world. His big ideas are continuing to make the University of Rhode Island a place where young minds and big ideas can explode.”

injured several more. Currently, Shukla is continuing his research into crack propagation, focusing on how different materials respond to not only explosions, but also extreme damage that takes place in combined extreme environments. For instance, with funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, he is looking into the well-publicized problem of aircraft losing their heat shields when they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. He is also working with the Navy to see how extreme temperatures affect sandwich composite materials. “Our objective is to see how differently they behave and how to improve it,” he said. Another research project that is currently funded by the NSF involves using nanoparticles (carbon nanotubes) as trace sensors to study the damage from dynamic loading. After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, Shukla came to URI in 1981 and began his research into crack propagation immediately. Although he has had several opportunities to leave over the years, he said he stayed because the administration at URI has been so supportive of his work. He takes pride in the fact that 80 graduate students have passed through his lab during the past 30 years, all of them moving on to

significant positions in government, academia and industry. “That’s remarkable for any university anywhere,” he said.

Shukla’s innovative research has impacted a range of areas, from the roads in Rhode Island, to private industry, to vessels out at sea, to our soldiers around the world. His big ideas are continuing to make the University of Rhode Island a place where young minds and big ideas can explode.

Arun Shukla

Bringing URI Ocean Research to Bear on Rhode Island Economic Development 21