G. E. Otto Widera, Ph.D.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH G.E.O. (Otto) Widera is presently Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Marquette University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1965. He joined the University of Illinois at Chicago that year and in 1982 became Head of the newly formed Mechanical Engineering Department with a faculty size of 12. At the time of his departure in 1991, to join Marquette University, the department had 28 faculty, 550 undergraduates and 225 graduate students, and was internationally known for its work in robotic manipulators, shells and heat transfer. At Marquette, as Chair of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, he headed an interdisciplinary group offering 2 ABET accredited undergraduate programs as well as 3 graduate programs. During 1998-99 and first half of 2003 he served as Interim Dean of the College and served as Senior Associate Dean from 1999-2007. He continues to serve as Co-Director of the Center for Joining and Manufacturing Assembly and served as Director of the Discovery Learning Center until January, 2008. He was co-founder and inititial Co-Director of the Engineering Management M.S. Program, which is jointly offered with the College of Business Administration. Dr. Widera has also held a number of visiting appointments among which are stress analyst at the Ladish Company, visiting scientist at the Materials Division of Argonne National Laboratory, and Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and Gast Dozent at the Metalforming Institute of the University of Stuttgart. In addition, he served as an ABET evaluator, has been Assistant Director of an NSFCase Study Institute at the University of Illinois and has participated in a number of engineering education workshops. Professor Widera's current interests include static, dynamic and thermal stress analysis, especially that of pressure vessels, piping and components, the development of finite elements and analytical theories governing the response of composite thin wall structures and the mechanics of deformation processing. He has lectured and published extensively on his research, being the author of over 190 publications. He has served as a consultant to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as to a number of industrial and design firnts, such as Sargent and Lundy Engineers. In addition, he serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Acta Mechanica Sinica (1989--), is a Co-Editor of the SME Handbook of Metalforming, served as Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology (1977-81), Manufacturing Review (1991-95), and Applied Mechanics Reviews (1987-94), edited, among others, ASME-PVP Special Publications entitled Pressure Vessel Design, and Design and Analysis of Plates and Shells, and was a member of the Board of Editors of the ASME book, Pressure Vessels and Piping-Design Technology (1982: A Decade of Progress). From 1982-93 he served as Technical Editor of the Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology (Transactions of ASME). Since 2005, he again serves as Ediotr of this Journal. Otto Widera is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as well as belonging to other organizations such as the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the French Pressure Vessel Association. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Operating Board of the Chicago ASME Section, as Advisor of the UIC ASME student section, as Chair of the Junior Awards Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division, as member of the Elasticity Committee of the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Division and of the Structural Plastics Research Council of ASCE and as Chair of the ASME Research Committee on Pressure Vessels. Dr. Widera served as Chair of the Committee on Shells and Ligaments, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Polymer Pressure Components, and Chair of the Committee on Reinforced Openings and External Loading of the Pressure Vessel Research Council. He was also a Chair of the Subcommittee on Design Procedures for Shell Intersections and is currently a member of the PVRC Design Division Operating Committee. He has had a long-time involvement in the ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping Division, serving as Chair of the Design and Analysis Committee during 1980-83. In 1985 he was elected to the Executive Committee of the PVP Division, served as Program Chair and as its Chair in 1990- 91. He became Chair of the Americas Regional Committee of the International Council on Pressure Vessel Technology in 1988 and served as Chairof the International Councilfrom 1992- 96. He is presently serving a second term. From 1993-96 he also served as Vice-President (and Chair of the Materials and Structures Technical Group) of ASME and Chair of the Committee on Appointments of its Council of Engineering. |
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| Professor and Senior Associate Dean |
Marquette University |