Bayly to step down as chair of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
Philip V. Bayly will remain the Lee Hunter Distinguished Professor
Philip V. Bayly, the Lee Hunter Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (MEMS) since 2008, will step down as chair at the end of the 2024-25 academic year. He will remain on the faculty and continue his research on biomechanics from cell motility to traumatic brain injury.
A search committee, headed by Bruno Sinopoli, chair of the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering and the Das Family Distinguished Professor, has been named to choose a successor. Park Square Executive Search will assist the committee to identify candidates.
“Phil Bayly has done a wonderful job building and growing the Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science department over the past 16 years,” said Aaron F. Bobick, dean and the James M. McKelvey Professor. “Under his leadership, the department has grown significantly in the number of students, in research awards, in outstanding faculty and in reputation. He did all this while maintaining an active research lab and an appropriate teaching load. Phil also nurtured the innovative and very successful WashU Summer Engineering Fellowship Program that attracts diverse students from around the country and encourages them to pursue a PhD degree. He was incredibly helpful in helping me learn what it is to be a dean, and I am grateful for his counsel and his leadership.”
Since Bayly has been chair of the department, which was then known as Mechanical, Aerospace and Structural Engineering (MASE), undergraduate student enrollment increased by 85%, while master’s degree enrollment has increased by 295%, and PhD student enrollment has increased by 80%. The number of women students also has increased, with a 163% increase in women undergraduate students and a 214% increase in women PhD students.
In addition, faculty research awards increased 587% to $11.8 million in 2024 and research expenditures increased 377% to $9.2 million. Department faculty increased from 10 tenured/tenure-track faculty and one teaching faculty member in 2008 to 19 tenured/tenure-track faculty and 12 non-tenure track teaching or research faculty in the current academic year, while the number of women faculty in MEMS increased from two to eight.
“It’s really been a pleasure and privilege to help MEMS grow,” Bayly said. “The three deans I’ve worked with — Sal Sutera, Ralph Quatrano and Aaron Bobick — have been generous in their support and encouragement. Most importantly, we have a group of faculty that truly cares about our students and help them to succeed.”
Bayly provided input on the design of Henry A. and Elvira H. Jubel Hall, which became the department’s home in summer 2019. The building, which contains classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, study areas and the Spartan Light Metal Products Maker Space, allows mechanical engineers to work closely with physicists, chemists, biologists, and chemical and biomedical engineers to promote the convergence of mechanics, materials science and nanotechnology. Jubel Hall connects via a third-floor bridge to Uncas A. Whitaker Hall, the home of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a physical symbol of the longstanding, strong collaboration between the two departments.
Bayly is an innovative researcher with an active research lab that focuses on impact, vibration, waves, oscillations and instability in mechanical and biomedical systems. He uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the mechanics of brain injury and brain development. Recently, he and members of his lab have been collecting data on how the brain moves in response to mild skull vibrations, to help develop and evaluate mathematical simulations of head trauma. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Whitaker Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the National Institutes of Health.
Bayly joined the WashU faculty in 1993. In 1996, he received the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the NSF. In 2004, he was awarded Engineering Professor of the Year, and he has twice received the McKelvey School’s “Big Fish” Award for graduate student mentoring. He received the Richard Skalak Award for Best Paper from the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering in 2013 and 2018. In recognition of his commitment to the intellectual and personal development of Washington University students, Bayly received the Founder’s Day Distinguished Faculty Award in 2014 and the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Research in 2017.
Bayly earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in engineering from Brown University and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Duke University. Before pursuing a doctorate, he worked as a research engineer for the Shriners Hospitals and as a design engineer for Pitney Bowes.
In addition to Sinopoli as chair, other search committee members are:
Matt Bersi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering & materials science;
Sharniece Holland-Trogler, lecturer in mechanical engineering & materials science;
Spencer Lake, associate professor of mechanical engineering & materials science;
Xianglin Li, associate professor of mechanical engineering & materials science;
Dave Peters, the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering in mechanical engineering & materials science;
Matthew Silva, the J & W Peterson Professor of Orthopaedic Research in the School of Medicine;
Srikanth Singamaneni, the Lilyan & E. Lisle Hughes Professor in mechanical engineering & materials science;
Patty Weisensee, associate professor of mechanical engineering & materials science;
Kevin Wise, adjunct instructor;
Louis Woodhams, professor of practice in mechanical engineering & materials science.
Nick Benassi, senior associate dean of strategy, communications & external relations, and Jenn Clemons, executive assistant to the dean, will assist the committee in the search.
