Wagner Named Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence

Northwestern Engineering’s Gregory Wagner, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has been named the Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence, effective September 1.

Wagner’s research focuses on the development and application of computational simulations methods for multi-scale and multi-physics problems in engineering, especially in the areas of fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and material transport. His research is focused on the development of models for these of these types of problems, and their solution using high performance computing tools. Past examples include melting and solidifying metal in advanced manufacturing processes, fluid-structure interaction in the human heart and vascular system, heat transfer in multi-phase flows, and multi-scale transport in environmental systems.

A faculty member in the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics graduate program, Wagner most recently contributed to a special thematic issue of Nature Materials on computational materials design. Wagner co-authored the paper with Sinan Keten, June and Donald Brewer Professor and professor of mechanical engineering and of civil and environmental engineering, which provides an overview of multiscale computation methods and discusses their development for use in materials design.

An author of more than 50 journal articles, Wagner’s honors include the NIST Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Challenge and the Zienkiewicz Numerical Methods in Engineering Prize. He is a member of the US Association for Computational Mechanics, the International Association for Computational Mechanics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Wagner received his PhD and MS in mechanical engineering from Northwestern and his BS in mechanical engineering from Boston University.