Summit Speaker: Gene Lucas

Gene Lucas

 Executive Vice Chancellor
UC Santa Barbara

Professor Lucas obtained his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Nuclear Engineering in 1978 and subsequently joined the faculty at UCSB. He is a Professor in both the Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering.  His expertise is in the experimental evaluation of mechanical properties of advanced structural materials, and how these properties change in response to microstructural changes induced by processing or service environment (chemical, thermal, or nuclear).  His current interests include fracture and stability phenomena in composite materials, novel techniques to extract mechanical properties from small volume specimens, and fracture mechanisms in structural steels used in advanced energy systems. He is the author, co-author, two monographs, editor/co-editor of 6 international conference proceedings, and has over 150 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings.  He has received several Significant Contribution Awards, the R. E. Peterson Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics, and the Young Member Engineering Achievement Award from the American Nuclear Society and he is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.  He has served in a variety of academic administrative capacities, including Vice Chair of Chemical Engineering, Associate Chair of Materials, Associate Dean and Acting Dean of the College of Engineering. He has also chaired numerous Academic Senate and special campus committees.  He is currently serving as the campus Executive Vice Chancellor.