Bio: John Kosmatka, professor of composite and aerospace structures, holds the Callaway Golf Chair in Structural Mechanics at UCSD. Before coming to UCSD in 1991, Kosmatka was an assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and held senior engineer positions at TRW and the Aerospace Corporation. He was named Jacobs School Structural Engineering 'Teacher of the Year' in 1998, and has been honored with numerous professional distinctions and was named Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as a NASA/ASEE Fellow. Kosmatka has authored more than 100 papers on composite structures, holds 24 U.S. patents, and is a technical reviewer for several companies and government laboratories. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA.

Research: Professor Kosmatka is known worldwide for his innovative design, analysis, and experimental testing of lightweight advanced composite structures for aircraft, military and sports structures. Most recently, he designed an unmanned atmospheric research aircraft (UAV) for the National Science Foundation, developed health monitoring systems for UAVs sponsored by Los Alamos National Laboratory, and conducted aircraft vibration and aeroelastic studies for Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. His work on composite fan blades for NASA recently resulted in a turbine blade design for improved safety, performance and noise reduction. Kosmatka has also developed a composite army bridge for DARPA and the U.S. Army, and composite in-field bridge manufacturing systems for the Office of Naval Research. His work on sports structures includes design of high performance golf clubs and America s Cup sailboats.