Mechanical Engineering Hall of Fame, 2022
B.S., Aerospace Engineering, The University of Notre Dame, 1966
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1968
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, The University of Notre Dame, 1970
Dr. William Oberkampf, Engineering Consultant, has 52 years of experience in research and development in fluid dynamics, heat transfer, flight dynamics, solid mechanics, and modeling and simulation. He spent his entire career in both computational and experimental research and development. During the last 25 years, Dr. Oberkampf emphasized research and establishment of procedures in model verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification in computational simulation. He has written over 185 journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, and technical reports, as well as given 13 invited conference plenary lectures. He has taught 62 short courses in the field of model verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification in computational simulation.
Dr. Oberkampf received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Oberkampf served on the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin from 1970 to 1979. From 1979 until 2007 he held various positions at Sandia National Laboratories in both staff and management positions. After leaving Sandia, he and Prof. Chris Roy completed their book "Verification and Validation in Scientific Computing" published by Cambridge University Press in 2010. Also during this time he has been a consultant to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Air Force, various Department of Energy laboratories, and corporations in the U.S. and Europe.
He has been a member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 1963 and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers since 1973. He has served on the AIAA Publications Committee, Atmospheric Flight Dynamics Technical Committee, Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee, Computational Fluid Dynamics Committee on Standards, and three conference organizing committees. He is co-founder and has served on the ASME Codes and Standards Committee for Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification in Computational Solid Mechanics. He is a Fellow of the AIAA and a Fellow of the International Association for Engineering Modeling, Analysis and Simulation (NAFEMS).