Two Named as National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows

Oscar Bruno and Julia Greer have been named National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows by the Department of Defense (DoD). Fifteen university faculty scientists and engineers comprise the 2016 class of fellows.

"The program awards grants to top-tier researchers from U.S. universities to conduct long-term, unclassified, basic research of strategic importance to the Defense Department," said Melissa L. Flagg, deputy assistant secretary of defense for research at the DoD, in an announcement of the new fellows. "These grants engage outstanding scientists and engineers in the most challenging technical issues facing the department."

Oscar Bruno is a professor of applied and computational mathematics in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS). Bruno's work aims to develop high-performance computer software for evaluation of engineering structures and simulation of physical phenomena—including optical devices, communications and remote-sensing/stealth systems, materials-science microstructures and seismic, aerodynamic, and hydrodynamic phenomena. In 1989, Bruno received his PhD, graduating with a Friedrichs Prize for an outstanding dissertation in mathematics from New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He became an associate professor at Caltech in 1995 and a professor of applied and computational mathematics in 1998. Dr. Bruno is a former member of editorial boards of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London and the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, and he currently serves in the board of the SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing. He has served as executive officer of Caltech's Applied and Computational Mathematics department, and he is the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship. He is member of the council of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. In 2013, he was named as a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Julia R. Greer is a professor of materials science, mechanics, and medical engineering in EAS. Her research focuses on creating and studying advanced materials that combine hierarchical architectures and unique nanoscale material properties. Greer received her PhD in materials science from Stanford and did post-doctoral work at the Palo Alto Research Center before joining the Caltech faculty in 2007. Her work was recently featured on CNN's 2020 Visionaries and was recognized among the Top 10 Breakthrough Technologies by the MIT Technology Review in 2015. Greer has received a number of recognitions and awards, including Gilbreth Lectureship by the National Academy of Engineering (2015), Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum (2014), Kavli Early Career Award (2014), Nano Letters Young Investigator Lectureship (2013), Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator (2013), NASA Early Career Faculty (2012), Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award (2012), DOE Early Career (2011), DARPA's Young Faculty (2009), Technology Review's TR-35, (2008). Greer serves as an Associated Editor of the journals Nano Letters and Extreme Mechanics Letters.