UCSD Structural Engineering alumnus, Dr. Dustin Harvey, of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Applied Engineering Technology and his R&D team, were chosen as finalists for the prestigious R&D 100 Awards.  Dr. Harvey and his team, including SE Professor, Dr. Michael Todd, developed SHMTools; a software that provides more than 100 advanced algorithms that can be assembled to quickly prototype and evaluate damage-detection processes. It is a virtual toolbox that can be used to detect damage in various types of structures, from aircraft and buildings to bridges and mechanical infrastructure.

Widely recognized as the “Oscars of Invention”, the R&D 100 Awards identify and celebrate the top technology products of the year. Past winners have included sophisticated testing equipment, innovative new materials, chemistry breakthroughs, biomedical products, consumer items, and high-energy physics. The R&D 100 Awards spans industry, academia, and government-sponsored research. The deep history of the awards program has meant that many of what once were cutting-edge technologies such the flashcube (1965) and the fax machine (1975) are now antiquated devices without a lot of use today. But many innovations, from halogen lamps (1974) to HDTV (1998), look to have considerable staying power. More recent breakthroughs that have earned R&D 100 Awards include next-generation magnetic resonance imaging machines, laser-based metal-forming tools, and the building blocks for fusion experiments.  The winners will be announced at the R&D 100 Awards and Technology Conference on November 12-13, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.