Romesh Batra

Romesh C. Batra is an Indian-American mechanical engineer who is a University Distinguished Professor and the Clifton C. Garvin Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. An international leader in applied mechanics, he is best known for his research on material failure under extreme loadings, for which he received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2016 Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award, one of the mechanical engineering's most prestigious honors.

Early life and education Batra was born in the village of Dherowal, Punjab, in British India (now in Pakistan). Following the partition and Indian independence, his family migrated to Shahabad Markanda, Haryana, India. Alexander von Humboldt Award for senior scientists Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award, Commonwealth of Virginia (2011) SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award, Commonwealth of Virginia (2010) Honorary D.Sc., Thapar University (2006)

Batra is a Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, the American Society for Engineering Education, the Society of Engineering Science, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the United States Association for Computational Mechanics. He is a founder and editor of the journal Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids. He served for two 5-year terms on the National Research Council Panels to review and advise areas of research in the Warhead Mechanics and the Lethality/Survivability Directorates of the Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen, MD, USA; for one year as President of the Society of Engineering Science; for 3 years as Secretary of the American Academy of Mechanics; and for 5 years as Chair of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division's Technical Committee on Elasticity.