
Stavros Gaitanaros
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Research Interests
- Mechanics of Architected Materials
- Large Deformations and Structural Stability
- Shock Formation and Impact Dynamics
- Structural DNA Nanotechnology
Stavros Gaitanaros received his PhD in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014 working at the Center for Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Materials. He then joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Laboratory for Computational Biology and Biophysics. In 2015 he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins University where he leads the Extreme Mechanics of Architected Materials group and is also affiliated with the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute. His work has earned him several accolades, including the IUTAM Bureau Prize for a Young Investigator in Solid Mechanics in 2016.
Education
2014 Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas at Austin
2007 Diploma & M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, University of Thessaly, Greece
Experience
08/2015 – present
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
05/2014 – 07/2015
Postdoctoral Associate, Laboratory for Computational Biology and Biophysics, MIT
09/2012 – 05/2014
Assistant Instructor, Aerospace Engineering & Engineering Mechanics, Univ. of Texas at Austin
09/2007 – 09/2012
Research Assistant, Center for Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Materials, Univ. of Texas at Austin
09/2004 – 02/2007
Research Assistant, System Dynamics Laboratory, University of Thessaly
Research Areas
Mechanics of Architected Materials
Large Deformations and Structural Stability
Shock Formation and Impact Dynamics
Structural DNA Nanotechnology
Selected Honors – Awards
2016 IUTAM Bureau Prize in Solid Mechanics
2013 “Highly Commended”, Graduate Student Paper Competition
Society of Engineering Science 50th Annual Technical Meeting
2012 3rd place award, Best Student Pape, Applied Mechanics Division (ASME)
International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, Houston, TX
2012 Haythornthwaite Foundation Travel Award
2012 Max L. Williams Endowed Fellowship in Mechanics of Solids, Structures, and Materials
The University of Texas at Austin
Selected Publications
Gaitanaros S., Kyriakides S., Kraynik A.M. (2012) “On the crushing response of random open-cell foams”, International Journal of Solids and Structures 49, 2733-2743.
Barnes A.T., Ravi-Chandar K., Kyriakides S., Gaitanaros S. (2014) “Dynamic crushing of aluminum foams Part I – Experiments”, International Journal of Solids and Structures 51, 1631-1645.
Gaitanaros S., Kyriakides S. (2014) “Dynamic crushing of aluminum foams Part II – Analysis”, International Journal of Solids and Structures 51, 1646-1661.
Gaitanaros S., Kyriakides S. (2015) “On the effect of relative density on the crushing and energy absorption of open cell foams under impact”, International Journal of Impact Engineering 82, 3-13.
Wang P., Gaitanaros S., Lee S., Bathe M., Shih W.M., Ke Y. “Programming self-assembly of two-dimensional DNA origami lattices and plasmonic metamaterials”, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2016)