UB Civil Engineering Professor Named Recipient of Prestigious Naval Research Award

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Cemal Basaran, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University at Buffalo, has been named a recipient of a highly prestigious Department of Defense Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.

Basaran is one of only 29 young researchers in the U.S. to be honored this year with the award. He is only the second UB faculty member to receive this Young Investigator Award.

The award comes with a research grant of $350,000 over three years, with additional funding available for three more years.

Basaran received the prize for his proposal on "Damage Mechanics of Semiconductor Devices," based on a theory, the Disturbed State Concept, that he developed in his doctoral dissertation to understand how and why materials degrade and fail.

Even though the theory is applicable to all constructed and manufactured structures, Basaran's research interest is in applying the theory to predict the fatigue life of computer chips. Basaran and his graduate students are trying to develop a universal criterion to quantify damage in materials in order to predict the life cycle of computer chips.

Studying the structural behavior of computer chips requires a multidisciplinary background and a collaboration across disciplines, such as electrical engineering, physics, material science and computational engineering mechanics.

Analyzing computer chips for structural failure is a new and emerging field, which became necessary with the advent of fast computers. Computer chips are widely used in civil and military vehicles and equipment.

Presently, because their life span cannot be accurately predicted, vital computer boards are regularly replaced when they still are relatively new.

Criteria for the ONR award include the significance of previous research by the applicant, a proposal that demonstrates the potential for making significant progress in an important scientific area and a long-term commitment by the university to the applicant and the research.

Basaran received his master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 and his doctorate from the University of Arizona in 1994.

He was a staff engineer at Cygna Energy Services, an engineering consulting firm in Boston, from 1988-92.

Basaran came to UB in 1994 as a visiting assistant professor and was appointed to the faculty the following year.

The author or co-author of numerous publications, Basaran teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in civil and mechanical engineering. His previous awards include the Turkish Academy of Sciences prize given to the most outstanding and promising junior civil engineer in the nation.

Basaran is a resident of Forestville.