Edwin L. (Ned) Thomas

About

Edwin L. (Ned) Thomas is a materials scientist and mechanical engineer whose research spans polymer materials physics and engineering; photonic and phononic crystals; metamaterials, microtrusses, and 3D interference lithography; the ballistic and shock behavior of lightweight nanocomposites; and the optical and acoustic properties of soft matter systems. His work also advances materials characterization through electron microscopy and synchrotron X ray diffraction.

Ned previously served as Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2006 to July 2011. Appointed Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in 1989, he is also the founder and former director of the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology (2002–2006). From 2011 to 2017, he was the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University.

Before joining MIT in 1988, Ned founded and co-directed the Institute for Interface Science and led the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts. His honors include election to the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009), along with fellowships in the Materials Research Society, AAAS, and the American Physical Society. He is the author of The Structure of Materials, has co-authored more than 500 publications, and holds 22 patents.

Education

PhD Materials Science, Cornell University, 1974

BS (Magna Cum Laude), Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, University of Massachusetts, 1969