By Beth Miller
An Engineering department chair and an active alumnus and his wife will be recognized Nov. 8 at the university’s Founders Day gala.
Philip Bayly, PhD, the the Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor and chair of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, will receive a Distinguished Faculty Award, and Donald and Karen Jubel will receive a Robert S. Brookings Award. Donald Jubel earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1973.
Bayly studies impact, vibration, wave motion and instability in mechanical and biomedical systems. He uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the mechanics of brain injury and brain development. He also studies the nonlinear dynamic phenomena that underlie the oscillatory movements of cells and microorganisms.
Currently, he is doing research on a five-year, $2.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to better understand traumatic brain injuries in efforts to improve methods for prevention and treatment. The grant will allow Bayly and his research team to develop 3-D computer models of brain biomechanics that will give researchers and clinicians a better understanding about what happens to the brain during traumatic brain injury. Previously, Bayly and his research team measured brain motion and mechanical properties of the brain in 2-D.
The Jubel family has given much back to Washington University. Most recently, they gave a gift to allow for the building of Jubel Hall, the new home of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science. As the newest building in the Engineering complex at the northeast corner of campus, it will contain classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices and gathering and study areas.
In 1998, Henry Jubel, Don’s father, established the Spartan Light Metal Products Inc. Scholarship, which endows four scholarships. Don and Karen also sponsor two annual scholarships. The family also set up the Henry A. Jubel Foundation in 1998 to support young people seeking to improve their lives through higher education.
Donald Jubel is chief executive of St. Louis-based Spartan Light Metal Products. The company, founded by Henry Jubel, who in 1940 earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Wash U, is a major supplier to the automotive industry.
The School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis focuses intellectual efforts through a new convergence paradigm and builds on strengths, particularly as applied to medicine and health, energy and environment, entrepreneurship and security. With 91 tenured/tenure-track and 40 additional full-time faculty, 1,300 undergraduate students, more than 900 graduate students and more than 23,000 alumni, we are working to leverage our partnerships with academic and industry partners — across disciplines and across the world — to contribute to solving the greatest global challenges of the 21st century.