James R. Rice

Ph.D., Lehigh University;

Gordon McKay Professor of Engineering Sciences and Geophysics.

Division of Applied Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

Solid Mechanics (fracture theory, interfacial failure, crack dynamics)

Professor Rice has contributed to fracture and plasticity theory in materials engineering and to earthquake source physics and crustal deformation modeling. He came to Harvard in 1981 and had been at Brown University since receiving his Ph.D. in 1964. His current materials research addresses problems in crack dynamics, and also the brittle versus ductile response of metal crystals, and their interfaces with one another and with ceramics, in terms of atomistic and dislocation processes. Previously, he contributed to the mechanics of crack growth, especially in ductile metals, micromechanisms of ductile and creep rupture, constitutive equations in crystal plasticity, deformation localization into shear bands, and computational methodology in solid mechanics. His contributions in earth science have been on the dynamics of earthquake response in relation to laboratory-based frictional properties of fault materials, stress accumulation in the crust as guided by seismic and geodetic constraints, and poroelasticity of fluid-infiltrated solids.

Awards and Honors

• Allan Cox Visiting Professorship of Geophysics, Stanford (1995)
• Timoshenko Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1994)
• Francis Birch Lecturer, American Geophysical Union (1993)
• William Prager Medal of the Society for Engineering Science (1988)
• American Geophysical Union, elected Fellow (1988)
• Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, Caltech (1988-89)
• Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, Lehigh University (1985)
• George R. Irwin Medal, American Society for Testing and Materials (1982)
• International Congress on Fracture, elected Honorary Fellow (1981)
• National Academy of Sciences, elected Member (1981)
• National Academy of Engineering, elected Member (1980)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers, elected Fellow (1980)

For question or comments please write to : James R. Rice