Invited by Professor Zheng Li of Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dr. Fuh-Gwo Yuan, Samuel P. Langley Professor from North Carolina State University (NCSU), gave a lecture about smart structures and materials on January 4, 2013. Many teachers and students attended the seminar.

Prof. Yuan pointed out that smart structures and sensors technology has resulted in new research frontiers that must be explored to realize the vision of future structures that are capable of self-sensing and monitoring, self-diagnosis and prognosis with intelligence, self-healing and repair, and adaptive response. He introduced the concept of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and advocated that with smart sensing and intelligent diagnostics, structural conditions will be monitored in real time and residual life will be predicted while the structures are in service. He then talked about the four multidisciplinary research areas being developed in his research group: multifunctional materials and sensors; structural damage diagnosis and prognosis; wireless smart sensor and energy harvesting. He also presented wireless sensor suite, energy harvesting suite, multi-functional CNT yarns and sensory alloys that have been developed in his lab in NCSU.

Dr. Yuan has been with NCSU since 1989. Over the past decade, he has been focusing on smart structures and materials and structural health monitoring (SHM). During his career, he has worked with the National Center for Composite Materials Research, the Boeing Company, the NASA Langley Research Center (presently Structural Mechanics and Concepts Branch), and the Air Force Materials Laboratory. Currently he serves as a Langley Professor at the National Institute of Aerospace. He is guiding a sizable research group with 15 Ph.D. students and 10 visiting scholars from different countries.