Prior to joining UCSD in 1989, Dr. Robert Aaro was an associate professor at Brown University. Asaro also worked as a research scientist at Ford Motor Company and the U.S. Naval Radiological Laboratory. Asaro is a member of the American Society of Metals, the Physics and Chemistry of Solids Committee, and the Materials Research Society. He is a two-time recipient of the NSF Creativity Award (1983, 1989). In 1991, Asaro was awarded the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society/Materials Information Society C.H. Matthewson Gold Medal. Professor Asaro designs and manufactures large-scale composite structures. He is particularly interested in the use of these structures for marine applications such as new pilings to make piers stronger and safer. His pilings are made from molded hollow tubes of advanced composite materials including glass fiber and vinyl ester resin. Recycled plastic sheaths the tubes and provides an abrasion resistant outer surface. The structural composite materials are strong, lightweight, and immune from sea worm attack. They are also highly corrosion resistant. Asaro's research interests also include the bulk processing of high Tc-BSCCo superconductors
This talk will discuss aspects of biological structural engineering within the SE department at UCSD. The discussion will focus on the differences in dealing with biological structures such as cells and their components as compared to typical structures of interest in say civil or aerospace engineering. It will be emphasized that biological structures are paradigms of nanotechnology in that the size scale of the components of biological structures are often comparable to the distances of direct interaction between them. It will be emphasized that studying the elements, i.e. the components of biological structure outside their complete living organisms present enormous challenges. Also, the types of questions asked are also somewhat different and what is expected of modeling, theory, and simulation may also be different than in other areas of structural engineering. Hence biological structural engineering falls within the category of a convergent science requiring the necessity of transcending disciplinary boundaries. The ideas will be developed essentially around studies of the human red blood cell and the physiological phenomena surrounding the functionality of the human erythrocyte.