Michael Falk is a professor of materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, and physics at Johns Hopkins University. He also serves as the vice dean for undergraduate education within the Whiting School of Engineering, a position he has held since July 2017.
Falk’s research focuses on utilizing computer simulation on the atomic scale to understand what happens when materials are pushed out of equilibrium by processes such as bending, breaking, charging, and undergoing frictional sliding. Since returning to Johns Hopkins, his funded projects have expanded to include educational research on how engineering students best learn computing and two NSF-funded partnerships with Baltimore City Schools to increase engagement of students, teachers, and communities in STEM learning. Falk has also been a strong advocate for diversity, particularly creating a welcoming climate for LGBTQ people within our university and the engineering and physics professions.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics (1990) and a master’s degree in computer science (1991) from Johns Hopkins. He completed his PhD in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara and then launched his academic career as a computational materials scientist at the University of Michigan in 2000. In 2008, he returned to Johns Hopkins.