Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor George J. Weng has been selected to receive the Society of Engineering Science William Prager Medal for his outstanding research contributions in solid mechanics.

The annual award, named after German-born applied mathematician William Prager, who spent his lifetime researching and teaching in the United States, includes a $2,000 cash prize and lifetime membership to the Society of Engineering Science. Weng will also present a Prager plenary lecture on his work during the 50th annual Society of Engineering Science technical meeting in July at Brown University.

Weng was cited for “his fundamental contributions to the theory of inclusions, micromechanics of composites, multifunctional materials, and coupled behavior in solids.”

Weng’s areas of research include exploration into the mechanical strength, thermal and electrical conductivity of carbon nanotube and graphene based nanocomposites, micro-and-nano mechanics of ferroelectric crystals and multi-ferroic composites for strong magnetoelectric coupling and the micromechanics of nanocyrstalline materials under shock loading.

A Rutgers University faculty member since 1977, Weng has provided more than 30 years of service to the Rutgers community as professor in the Department of Mechanics and Materials Science as well as a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Weng also serves as an editor for Acta Mechanica, an international journal of theoretical and applied mechanics, and editorial board member for the Mechanics of Materials and International Journal of Mechanics and Materials in Design.