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Rockwell Lecture Series
Ares J. Rosakis
March 2, 2023
Ares J. Rosakis, Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
The Seismological Wind Tunnel: From Lab-Scale Experiments To Global-Scale Seismic Events
Time 2:30 pm
Location W122 Engineering Building 2

Understanding the destructive power of earthquakes and estimating their seismic hazard for engineering structures is a significant challenge across disciplines. At the core of every earthquake lies a dynamic rupture event propagating at high speeds on a fault (frictional interface) in the earth’s crust, whose vast range of length and time scales involved poses a tremendous challenge to modelers and experimentalists alike. Friction plays a central role in determining how such ruptures propagate along faults and how they release waves that cause destructive shaking threatening our infrastructure and endangering our lives. The complex nature of the underlying dynamic friction is one of the most considerable uncertainties in earthquake mechanics. This fact limits our ability to accurately model earthquakes and mitigate their effect on the built environment.

In 2004, Ares J. Rosakis was named the Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. Between 2009 and 2015, he served as the Otis Booth Leadership Chair in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science. Before holding the position as Chair of the Engineering Applied Science Division, Rosakis led the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT), formerly the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratories.

Rosakis is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europae), as well as five more Academies in Europe and India: Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Academy of Athens (National Academy of Greece), Academia Europea (AE), European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) and European Academy of Science (EUAS).

Rosakis has also been honored with various recognitions in many branches of engineering and science, including the Theodore von Kármán Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Stephen P. Timoshenko Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Sia Nemat-Nasser Medal from the Society of Experimental Mechanics (SEM), the A.C. Eringen Medal from the Society of Engineering Science (SES), and the Horace Mann Medal (Brown University). He was also named Commander of the Order of Academic Palms (Commandeur dans ll'Ordredes Palmes Académiques) by the Prime Minister of the Republic of France for his notable contribution to French engineering and technical education.

Rosakis' work has resulted in scientific discoveries and practical developments that have helped invigorate the field of dynamic fracture and failure mechanics.

About Elizabeth D. Rockwell

Elizabeth D. Rockwell

A fourth generation Houstonian, Mrs. Rockwell was an Executive Director, Private Client Division of CIBC Oppenheimer Corp. She was widely recognized as an expert in retirement, estate, investment, and tax planning. She was an early proponent of the Keogh and IRA plans, for which she has been nationally recognized.

In 1991, she qualified to be a member of the Million Dollar Round Table as well as the Texas Leaders Round Table. Since 1990 she had authored a monthly column for the Houston Chronicle.

Mrs. Rockwell served as President of the UH College of Business Administration Foundation Board, as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, and was an Executive Professor for the college. She also served as a member of the advisory board of the Health Law and Policy Institute and as a Trustee of the University of Houston System’s Foundation, as well as a member of the UH System’s Planned Giving Council.

Mrs. Rockwell served on the Board of Governors for the Houston Forum, and as a Board member of the American Red Cross, the Greater Houston Women’s Foundation, the University of Houston Alumni Organization, and the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. She was a member of the River Oaks Business Women’s Exchange Club, the National Tax Sheltered Annuity Association, the Texas Association of College Teachers, and the Houston Association of Life Underwriters.

Among her numerous honors, she has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Houston, the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Houston Alumni Organization and from the UH College of Business Administration. Throughout the years she has been recognized for her many achievements by the Education Foundation of Harris County, the Houston Community College System’s Television Station Advisory Council, and the Houston Mayor’s READ Commission.

The Houston Alumni Center is home to the Elizabeth D. Rockwell President’s Suite. In September 1997, the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Career Services Center was opened in the UH College of Business Administration. She endowed the Chair for the Dean of the M.D. Anderson Library.

Mrs. Rockwell was listed in the Who’s Who in the South and Southwest; Who’s Who in finance and Industry; Who’s Who of American Women; and Who’s Who in the World.