Tess J. Moon

Dr. Tess Moon earned her Ph.D. in Theoretical & Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989, the same year she joined UT Austin's Mechanical Engineering faculty. She has received several national awards recognizing her research and teaching activities, including the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award in 1992. An expert in the mechanics of materials, Dr. Moon founded and directs the IMPACT Lab. Dr. Moon's overarching research objective is to elucidate physical phenomena in various material systems using interdisciplinary mechanistic modeling and experiments. Composites--structural and biological--have been her principal focus. Currently, Dr. Moon's focus is the mechanics of polymer composites, notably polymer nanocomposites (e.g. nano-filled polymers, active nanostructures) and eukaryotic cells' cytoskeleton (e.g. myosin-activated actin cytoskeleton, cytoskeletal dynamics). Research Interests •Mechanics & Design of Materials, Processing, Structures & Systems; •Nano- & Bio-Mechanics: Modeling, Experimental Characterization; •Biophysics, Nano- & Microscale Biomimetic Materials & Processes; •Polymer Composites & Polymer Nanocomposites: Materials, Processing & Structures; •Electronics Packaging & Interconnects: Materials, Processing & Structures.