Sarah Baxter

Headshot of Sarah Baxter
Professional Title
Adjunct Assistant Professor

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Applied Mathematics University of Virginia (1995)
Advisor: C. O. Horgan
Major Area: Partial Differential Equations/Applied Mechanics
Dissertation: St. Venant End Effects for Anti-Plane Shear
 

Master of Science, Applied & Computational Mathematics, U. of Minnesota
Advisor: S. A. Trogdon, UM Duluth 1991
Major Area: Numerical Analysis/Partial Differential Equations
Thesis: Flexural Bending in Beams
 

Bachelor of Science, University of Denver
Major: Biological Sciences Minors: Physics and Chemistry

Academic & Professional Experience

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth Department of Civil Engineering (2025-present)
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth, Department of Mathematics and Statistics (2024-2024)
  • Professor Emerita School of Engineering, University of St. Thomas (1-1-2024)
  • Professor, School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering University of St. Thomas (2014–2023)
  • Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina (2013–2014)
  • Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina (2003–2013)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina (1997–2003)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Applied Mechanics Program, University of Virginia Advisors M.J. Pindera and C.T. Herakovich Micromechanics of Metal Matrix Composites (1995–1997)
  • Summer Research Scientist, Polymer Division, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD. (1994)
  • Graduate TA, Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Virginia. (1991–1993)
  • Member of the Technical Staff, The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles (1991 Summer)

Honors and Awards

  • Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award ($5,000) University of South Carolina 2014
  • NSF Career Award “Effects of Microstructural Randomness in Composites” 1999.
  • Invited Lecturer: Four lectures. Graduate Workshop on Random Material Microstructures Modeling and Mechanical Behavior. Centre of Excellence for Advanced Materials and Structures at the Instituteof Fundamental Technology in Warszawa, Poland, 2004.
  • Finalist, NSF Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge, 2005.
  • Faculty Associate of the Year, Preston Residential College, 2006.
  • Invited Panelist and Panel Chair, Science Foundation of Ireland, Biannual Proposal Reviews, 2006-2008.

Scholarship

Peer Reviewed Articles

  • Christine Gregg, Adam Jones, Sarah Baxter and Rita Lederle “Robotically Emplaced Lattice Reinforcement for Lunarcrete Structures and ISRU” 2025 IEEE Aerospace, 2025
  • Rita E. Lederle, Katherine A. Acton and Sarah C. Baxter “Determination of Representative Volume Elements forPervious Concrete” ACI Materials Journal, 117 (6), November 2020.
  • Sarah C. Baxter and Katherine A. Acton “Probabilistic Modeling and Simulation of Wave Speeds in Random Composites” Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics 59, 103046, 2020
  • Paul S. Ryan, Sarah C. Baxter and Philip A. Voglewede “Automating the Derivation of the Equations ofMotion of a Multi-Body Dynamic System with Uncertainty Using Polynomial Chaos Theory and VariationalWork” Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, 15(1)1-7. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4045239, 2020.
  • Sarah C. Baxter and Katherine A. Acton “Simulations of Non-Gaussian Property Fields Based on the ApparentProperties of Statistical Volume Elements” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems Part B: Mechanical Engineering, doi: 10.1115/1.4043399, 2019.
  • Katherine Acton, Sarah Baxter, Bahador Bahmani, Philip Clark and Reza Abedi “Voronoi Tessellation BasedStatistical Volume Element Characterization for Use in Fracture Modeling” Computer Methods in AppliedMathematics & Engineering, 336:135-155, 2018.
  • Katherine A. Acton and Sarah C. Baxter “Distributions of Apparent Properties Based on Statistical VolumeElement Partitioning of Random Microstructures” Journal of Engineering Mechanics 144(2): 04017168, 2018.
  • Sarah C. Baxter and Katherine A. Acton “Improved Mesoscale Material Property Bounds Based on Voronoi Tessellation of Statistical Volume Elements” Mechanica dei Materiali e del Strutture, 6(1), 179-186, June 2016.
  • Caicedo, J.M., Jiang, Z., and Baxter, S. C. ``Including Uncertainty in Modeling the Dynamic Response of a Large-Scale 200kN Magneto-Rheological Damper’’ ASCE-ASME Journal of risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A Civil Engineering, G4016002, 2016
  • Baxter S.C., Burrows, B. J., and Fralick B. S. ``Mechanical Percolation in Nanocomposites: Microstructure andMicromechanics’’ Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, 44, 35-42, 2016
  • Bourn, R. Fralick, Bethany S. and Baxter, Sarah C. “Distributions of Elastic Moduli in Mechanically PercolatingComposites” Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, 34, 67-72, 2013.
  • Fralick, B.S., Gatzke. E.P., and Baxter, S.C. "Three-dimensional evolution of mechanical percolation in nanocomposites with random microstructures", Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics 30, 1-8, 2012.
  • Baxter, S.C. and Robinson, C.T. “Pseudo-percolation: Critical volume fractions and mechanical percolation inpolymer nanocomposites", Composites Science and Technology, 1(10), 1273-1279, 2011.
  • Wilson, C.G., Stone, J.W., Fowlkes, V.,Morales, M.O., Murphy, C.J., Baxter, S.C. and Goldsmith,E.C. “Collagen Receptors and the Age-Dependent Contraction of Type I Collagen Substrates by CardiacFibroblasts”, Microsc. Microanal, 17(4), 555-562, 2011.
  • Snipes, J.S., Robinson, C.T., and Baxter, S.C. “Effect of scale and interface on the effective viscoelastic propertiesof polymer nanocomposites", Journal of Composite Materials, 45(24), 2537-2546, 2010.
  • Ray, T.R, Murphy, C.J., Baxter, S.C. “Diffusion Linked Solidification Model of Axisymmetric Growth of Gold Nanorods” in Advances in Mathematical Modeling and Experimental Methods for Materials and Structures, Springer Netherlands, pp.199-210, 2010.
  • Murphy, C.J., Gole, A.N., Aalkady, A.M., Stone. J.W., Sisco, P.N., Goldsmith, E.C .and Baxter, S.C. “Gold Nanoparticles in Biology: Beyond Toxicity to Cellular Imaging” Acc. Chem. Res., 41 (12), 1721-1730, 2008.
  • Sisco, P.N., Wilson, C.G., Mironova, E., Baxter, S.C., Murphy, C.J. and Goldsmith, E.C. “The Effect of Gold Nanorods on Cell-Mediated Collagen Remodeling” Nano Letters, 8 (10), 3409– 3412, 2008.
  • Baxter, S.C, Morales, M.O., and Goldsmith, E.C. “Adaptive Changes in Cardiac Fibroblast Morphologyand Collagen Organization as a Result of Mechanical Environment” invited paper, Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics, 51(1) 33-44, 2008.
  • Stone, J.W., Sisco, P.N., Goldsmith, E.C., Baxter, S.C., and Murphy, C.J. “Using Gold Nanorods to Probe Cell-Induced Collagen Deformation” NanoLetters, 7(1) 116-119, 2007.
  • Williams, T.O., Baxter, S.C. “A Framework for Stochastic Mechanics” Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics 21, 247–255, 2006.
  • Orendorff, C.J., Baxter, S.C., Goldsmith, E.C. and Murphy, C.J. “Light Scattering from Gold Nanorods: TrackingMaterial Deformation” Nanotechnology, 16, 2601-2605, 2005.
  • Baxter, S.C. Graham-Brady, L.L., Xi Xu, F. “Modeling the effects of material non-linearity using moving window micromechanics”, International Journal of Nonlinear Mechanics, 40 351-359, 2005.
  • Umpleby II, R.J., Rampey, A.M., Baxter, Rushton, G.T., Shah, R. N. , Bradshaw, J.C. and Shimizu, K.D.“Characterization of the heterogeneous binding site affinity distributions in molecularly imprintedpolymers” Chromatogr. B 804 141, 2004.
  • Baxter, S.C., Islam, M.O. and Gassman, S. L. “Impulse response evaluation of drilled shafts with pile caps: modeling and experiment” Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 31(2), 169- 177, 2004.
  • Baxter, S.C. and Reynolds, A.P. “Modeling Anisotropic Hardening with a Stochastic Cellular Automaton” Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, 19 3–8, 2004.
  • Graham, L.L., Siragy, E.F. and Baxter, S.C. “Analysis of Heterogeneous Composites Based on Moving WindowTechniques, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 129:(9) 1054-1064, 2003.
  • Khan J. A., Hinton H.J., and Baxter S.C. “Enhancement of Heat Transfer with Inclined Baffles and RibsCombined” Journal of Enhanced Heat Transfer, 9(3-4) 137-151, 2002.
  • Umpleby R.J., Baxter S.C., and Shimizu K.D. “Characterization of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers with theLangmuir Freundlich Isotherm”, Analytical Chemistry, 73: 4584-4591, 2001.
  • Baxter S.C., Hossain, M. I. and Graham L.L. “Micromechanics Based Random Material Property Fields forParticulate Reinforced Composites” International Journal of Solids and Structures, 38: 9209-9220, 2001.
  • Graham L.L. and Baxter S.C. “Simulation of Local Material Properties based on Moving Window GMC” Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, 16: 295-305, 2001.
  • Umpleby R.J., Baxter S.C., Bode M., Berch Jr. J.K., Shah R.N., and Shimizu K.D., “Application of the Freundlich adsorption isotherm in the characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers”. Analytica Chemica Acta, 435: 35-42, 2001.
  • Baxter S.C and Graham L.L. (2000) “Characterization of Random Composite Materials using the MovingWindow-Generalized Method of Cells” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 126(4): 389-397.
  • Reynolds A.P. and Baxter S.C (2000) “Kinematic hardening in a dispersion strengthened aluminum alloy:experiment and theory” Material Science and Engineering, A285: 265-279.
  • Herakovich C.T. and Baxter S.C. “Influence of Pore Geometry on the Effective Response of Porous Media” Journal of Materials Science, 34: 1595-1609, 1999.
  • Baxter, S.C and Pindera, M.-J. “Stress and plastic strain fields during unconstrained and constrained fabrication cool down of fiber reinforced IMC’s” Journal of Composite Materials, 33(4): 351-376, 1999.
  • Graham L.L. and Baxter S.C. “Stochastic Finite Element Analysis of Composite Structures with RandomImperfections” Stochastic Structural Dynamics, Eds. B.F. Spencer and E.A. Johnson, Balkema Press, 159-164, 1999.
  • Baxter S.C and Pindera, M.-J. “Degradation of Elastic Response of MMC Tubes due to Internal Fiber Cracks” ASCE Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 10(1): 43-48, 1997.
  • Baxter S.C. and Horgan C.O. “Effects of Curvilinear Anisotropy on Radially symmetric stresses in anisotropic linearly elastic solids”, Journal of Elasticity, 42: 31-38, 1996.
  • Baxter S.C. and Horgan C.O. “Anti-plane shear deformations of sandwich structures: end effects”International Journal of Solids and Structures, 34: 79-98, 1997.
  • Baxter S.C. and Horgan C.O. “End Effects for Anti-Plane Shear Deformations of Sandwich Strips” Journal of Elasticity, 40: 123-164, 1995.

Book Chapters

  • An Introductory Guide to Solid Mechanics, in Mechanobiology Handbook, 2nd Edition Eds. Jiro Nagatomi, EnoEssien Ebong, published by Taylor & Francis, NY, 2018.
  • An Introductory Guide to Solid Mechanics, in Mechanobiology Handbook Ed. Jiro Nagatomi, published by Taylor & Francis, NY, 2011.
  • High Aspect Ratio Gold Nanorods: Their Synthesis and Application to Image Cell-Induced Strain Fields inCollagen Films, D. J. Chernak, P. N. Sisco, E. C. Goldsmith, S. C. Baxter, and C. J. Murphy, in Nanobiotechnology Protocols, 2, Ed. S.J. Rosenthal, 2011
  • Lecture Notes 17: Random Material Microstructures Modelling and Mechanical Behavior, pps. 101-145, edited byKazimierz Sobczyk, Centre of Excellence for Advanced Materials & Structures; Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Warszawa, Poland, 2004.

Seminars and Presentations

Invited Seminars

  • “Mechanics in Mechanical Percolation” An invited seminar presented to the KTH (Royal Institute of Technology inStockholm) Department of Solid Mechanics, Stockholm, Sweden, January 23, 2014.
  • ‘Nano’-micromechanics: Tracking the three-dimensional evolution of mechanical percolation effects innanocomposites” Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, March 6, 2012.
  • “Tracking the evolution of mechanical percolation in nanocomposites with random microstructures”, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics, September 22, 2011.
  • “Fabrication and Design of Multi-Functional Polymer Nanocomposites”, University of Kentucky, William Maxwell Reed Seminar Series, 30 March 2010.
  • “Force Handles for Long Range Patterning: ‘Nano’ Microstructures in Polymer Nanocomposites” Departmentof Civil Engineering, Graduate Student Seminar, University of Pittsburgh, 5 February 2010.
  • “Nano “Micromechanics” Design and Fabrication of Polymer Nanocomposites, Virginia Tech”, Department of Engineering Mechanics Graduate Student Seminar, 4 November 2009.
  • “Visualizing Cell Initiated Deformation in the Extracellular Matrix”, Department of Biomechanical Engineering, Clemson University, 10 July 2009.
  • “Examination of Collagen Organization During Cardiac Fibroblast-Mediated Collagen Gel Contraction”, University of South Carolina School of Medicine; INBRE Clinic on Confocal Microscopy, February 2006.
  • “Evolving Tissue Microstructure: Mechanotransduction and Micromechanics” USC SOM - Bioengineering Group Seminar, December 2005.
  • “Random Material Microstructures: Modeling and Mechanical Behavior, 4 Lectures: 1-2: Classical andStochastic Micromechanics, Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials and Structures, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Warsaw, Poland, February, 2004.
  • “Modeling kinematic hardening in a dispersion strengthened aluminum alloy using a Stochastic Cellular Automaton, Graduate Seminar, Civil Engineering, JHU, March 2002.
  • “Characterization of Random Composites using Local Material Property Fields. Army Research Lab, Aberdeen MD, Aberdeen MD, Center for Impact Physics Seminar Series, March 2000.
  • “Development of Micromechanical Based Material Property Fields for Random Composites” Sarah C. Baxter andLori L. Graham, 8th ASCE Probabilistic Mechanics and Structural Reliability Conference (PMC2000) University of Notre Dame, 2000.
  • “Analysis of Local Material Property Fields for Random Composites” Sarah C. Baxter and Lori L. Graham, Mechanics and Materials Conference, ASME, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA, 1999.
  • “Evolution of stress and plastic strain fields during composite fabrication cool-down” Sarah
  • C. Baxter and Lori L. Graham, 14th Engineering Mechanics Conference ASCE, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1999.
  • “Stochastic Field Representation of the Mechanical Properties of Composite Materials” Lori
  • L. Graham and Sarah C. Baxter, 14th Engineering Mechanics Conference ASCE, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1999.
  • “Influence of Porosity on the Response of Fibrous Composites” Sarah C. Baxter, Carl T. Herakovich and AlyshaM. Roerden, IUTAM Symposium on Theoretical and Numerical Methods in Continuum Mechanics of PorousMedia, September, Stuttgart, Germany, 1999.
  • “Stochastic Field Representations and Statistics of the Mechanical Properties of Particulate Reinforced Composite Materials” Sarah C. Baxter and Lori L. Graham, Annual Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science, Austin TX,1999.
  • “Microstructural modeling of the evolution of stress and plastic strain fields fabrication cool down of fiberreinforced IMC’s” Sarah C. Baxter and Marek-Jerzy Pindera, Annual meeting of the Society of Engineering Science, September, 1998.
  • “Influence of Pore Geometry on the Effective response of porous media” Carl T. Herakovich and Sarah C. Baxter. Joint meeting of ASCE, ASME and SES - McNu ’98 - Northwestern University, 1998.
  • “Mechanical Response of Functionally Graded MMC Tubes with Fiber Damage due to TorsionalLoading” S.C. Baxter and M.-J. Pindera, 3rd International Conference on Composite Engineering,ICCE/3, New Orleans, LA, 1996.
  • “Response of MMC Laminated Tubes with Internal Fiber Cracks” S.C. Baxter and M.-J. Pindera, 11th Engineering Mechanics Conference, ASCE, Ft. Lauderdale FL, 1996.

GRANT PROPOSALS

  • NSF: CMMI, Research Opportunity Award, “Probabilistic Modeling and Characterization of Mesoscale Material Property Fields Due to Random Microstructures", $50,000:” 6/2017 – 12/2017, Role (Co-PI)
  • NSF CMMI/Advanced Manufacturing, “Synergistic Modeling: Manufacture and Design of 'Nano' Microstructures”
  • $320,000 8/15/10 - 8-14-13, Role: PI
  • NSF “ADVANCE IT-Catalyst: Advancing USC STEM Faculty”, $186,000 9/1/10-4/30/13, Role: Co-PI PI: USC Vice Provost Christine Curtis
  • NIH R-21 “Using gold nanorods to modify the extracellular matrix and mechanical properties of cardiac valves”, $476,000   7/08-7-10, Role: Co-Principal Investigator/ PI: Dr. Edie Goldsmith, University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
  • NSF CMMI “Role of Mechanical Environment on the Evolution of Tissue Microstructure: Meso-scale Cell-Extracellular Matrix Interactions”, $220,000 9/01/06-8/30/09, Role: Principal Investigator
  • NSF CCLI “Effects of Timing, Content and Instruction on Engineering Students’ Abilities to Solve Open-ended Problems using Computers”, $149,000 1/06-12/08, Role: Co-Principal Investigator/ PI: Dr. Ann Johnson University of South Carolina, History
  • NIH-SC IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, "ECM Receptor Response to Changes in Matrix Organization" Role: Target faculty
  • USCSOM/ENGR/COSM Research and Development Fund, “Microstructural Response of Cellularized Collagen Gels to Mechanical Fields: A Precursor to Engineering Tissue Architecture”, $50,000 7/04-12/05, Role: Principal Investigator
  • USC SOM/ENGR Research and Development Fund “Characterization of the Spatial Arrangement of Cellularand Extracellular Matrix in Developing Organisms as a Precursor to Constitutive Modeling”, $25,000 1/04-12/04, Role: Principal Investigator
  • NSF CMS Career Award “Effects of Microstructural Randomness in Composites”, $280,000 9/99-1/03, Role: Principal Investigator
  • NSF CMS: “Influence of Random Microstructure on Stress Concentrations in Functionally Graded Composites”, $175,694 9/98-8/00 Role: Principle Investigator
  • USC: Research andProductive Scholarship Grant, “Analytic modeling of impulse response evaluation techniques: correlation of theory and experiment”, $10,000 , 6/97-6/99 Role: Principle Investigator

STUDENT SUPERVISION AND MENTORING

Dissertation Committees

  • Paul S. Ryan, PhD, “Automating the Analysis of Uncertainties in Multi-Body Dynamics Systems using Polynomial Chaos Theory” Defended October 26, 2018, Marquette University.

Doctoral Students

  • Dr. Bethany Fralick, M.S., PhD. May 2013 (Assistant Professor USC, Aiken), Mechanical Percolation in Nanocomposites
  • Dr. Jennifer Snipes, PhD. Mechanical Engineering, 2011., Nano-Micromechanics: Modeling the Effective Response of Polymer Nanocomposites
  • Dr. John Stone, PhD. Chemistry & Biochemistry, co-advised with Dr. Cathy Murphy 2008., Measuring the Local Mechanical Deformation of Collagen Gels using Light Scattered from Gold Nanorod

Postdoctoral and PhD collaborators

  • Dr. Chris Orendorff, 2005-2006. (Sandi National Labs), Light Scattering from Gold Nanorods: Tracking Material Deformation
  • Dr. Felipe Montes, 5/2005 -12/2005, Simulation of Microstructure of Pervious Concrete

Masters Students

  • Brian J. Burrows, MS. August 2014 (PhD Texas A&M), Local Mechanical Fields in Interface-Percolated Nanocomposites
  • Neelima Yellepeddi M.S., May 2013 (Intel), Multifunctional Modeling of Polymer Nanocomposites
  • Tyler Ray M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Electric Field Manipulation of Gold Nanorods: Characterization of Far-Field Alignment and Spatial Positioning through Optical Response Imaging Techniques, 2010 (Phd, UCSanta Barbara 2015, Asst Prof. University of Hawaii)
  • Jennifer Snipes, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, A Two-Layered Micromechanical Composite Model of the Aorta, 2007.
  • Julie Giles, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Rate Dependence of the Preconditioned Response of Soft Tissueduring Load Controlled Deformation, 2006.
  • Timothy Rekers, M.S. Mechanical Loading of Soft Biological Tissues, 2005.
  • Gerti Bajraktari, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Composite Microstructure as the Basis for Digital Image Analysis, 2004.
  • Arturo Valentin, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, An Application of Classical Continuum Theory to Image Analysis, 2004. (Phd Texas A&M 2009)
  • Shuchen Fan, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Residual Stresses in Functionally Graded Composites, 2003.
  • Imran Hossain, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Three-dimensional Random Field Characterization of Mechanical Properties in Particulate Reinforced Composites Using Moving Window Generalized Method ofCells, 2000.
  • Ohidul Islam, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Modeling of impulse response evaluation of Drilled Columnsusing Finite Element Analysis, 2000.

COURSES TAUGHT

University of Minnesota Duluth

  • MATH 3280 Differential Equations with Linear Algebra CE 2015 Engineering Statics (2026 -)
  • CE 2016 Engineering Mechanics of Materials

University of St Thomas

  • ENGR 220 Statics
  • ENGR 221 Mechanics of Materials ENGR 221-LMechanics of Materials Lab ENGR 480-1,2 Advisor Senior Design
  • ENGR 488 Numerical Methods for Engineers ENGR 412 Fiber Reinforced Composites

University of South Carolina

  • EMCH 201 Introduction to Numerical Methods EMCH 200 Statics
  • ENCP 101 Introduction to Engineering EMCH 585 Composites
  • EMCH 260 Mechanics of Materials
  • ENCP 707 Continuum Mechanics (graduate class) ENCP 721 Elasticity (graduate class)

University of Virginia

  • APMA (Applied Mathematics) Calculus 1

SERVICE ACTIVITIES

Professional Service:

  • 2019 Panelist NSF Panel – March, Washington DC.
  • 2017 Panelist: NSF Grad Research Fellowship Program - Mechanical Engineering
  • Reviewer: Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty Part B Mechanical Engineering, Soft Matter, J. Composite Materials, Probabilistic Engr. Mech.,
  • J. Polymer Science, The Royal Society: Math, Phys/Eng. Sciences, Composites Science and Technology,Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, ASEE Proceedings, ASME-IDETC Proceedings
  • 2008- 2011, Member Editorial Board: 6th, 7th International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology
  • 2006- 2008 Chair (2007-8) and Sitting member: Science Foundation Ireland Panel: Mechanical Engineering
  • 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, Member of the Scientific Committee 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th International Conference on Computational Stochastic Mechanics
  • 2003- 2008 Association of Women in Science, Columbia Chapter Sec/Treas.
  • 2002-2006; Committee Vice Chair, International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability, (IASSAR-CSMSE)2002- 2007 Panelist: NSF Grad Research Fellowship Program - Mechanical Eng and Biomedical Eng.
  • Member Probabilistic Committee ASCE
  • Member Committee on Uncertainty and Probabilistic; Applied Mechanics Division ASME
  • 2000- present: Panelist and Reviewer for NSF: CMMI, CCLI, Mathematics and Mechanics of Physics
  • 2005 – present Engineering Mechanics Institute, ASCE, member 1997- present American Society of Engineering Educators, member 1995- present American Society of Mechanical Engineers, member

University Service:

  • 2024 - Reviewer UROP Proposals, UMN Duluth Swenson College of Science and Engineering
  • 2022-23: Member HLC Assurance Review Team June 2022 – December 2023
  • 2022   Search committee VP for Enrollment Spring 2022
  • 2022 – 2024: Committee on Teaching Evaluations (start Fall 2022)
  • 2020-2021: Past Chair of the Faculty
  • 2020 – 2021: Travel Advisory Committee
  • 2019-2020: Chair of the Faculty
  • 2018-2019: Chair Elect of the Faculty
  • 2018-2021: Executive Committee of the Faculty
  • 2019: Athletic Advisory Committee
  • 2017- 2018: Academic Portfolio Review Committee
  • 2015 – 2018: Faculty Affairs Committee
  • 2015 – 2017: Goldwater Scholarship Committee
  • 2015 – 2018: Faculty Senate
  • 2017: Reviewer for Graduate Research Team Grants

College Service:

  • 2014 – 2023 - Class Ownership: ENGR 220: Statics
  • 2022 - Evaluator Returning Student Scholarships
  • 2022 - School of Engineering Tours
  • 2017 -2022 - SOE Tenure and Promotion Committee
  • Committee Chair for promotion to Professor: Chih Lai, AnnMarie Thomas, Katherine Acton CommitteeChair for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor: Katherine Acton, Thomas Shepard, Thomas Secord,Rita Lederle
  • S2015, F2016 - Co-Leader Curiosity in Research Workshop 2015-2019.     Speaker ENGR 150, Intro to Engineering
  • S2017, S2018 - Invited Seminar Speaker for Aquinas Honors Seminar S2017        Civil Engineering Search Committee
  • S 2016 - Mechanical Engineering Search Committee S 2015Admissions Overnight, Spring 2015
  • F 2015 - Redesign Statics Lab Committee