Prof. Stephen C. Cowin

Prof. Stephen C. Cowin is a City University of New York Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering at City College. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Orthopaedics at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Before taking up his position at City College in September 1988 he was the Alden J. Laborde Professor of Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tulane University.

            Professor Cowin received his BES and MS in Civil Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1956 and 1958, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1962. After one year on the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, he began a 25-year-long association with Tulane University in 1963. His principal research interest is the mechanics of materials, particularly in determining the influence of microstructure on the gross mechanical behavior of granular, composite, and biological materials.

            Professor Cowin received the Best Paper Award from the Bioengineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1992; the Melville Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1993, and the European Society of Biomechanics Research Award in 1994. In 1999 he receive the H. R. Lissner medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for contributions to biomedical engineering. In 2004 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In 2004 he also received the Maurice A. Biot medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

            Professor Cowin is the author of over 230 research papers and editor or co-editor of five books. He is presently or has been an Regional Editor for Forma, Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Mechanics and the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biomechanics, International Journal of Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Mechanics Research Communications and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Handbook of Bioengineering and the Handbook of Mechanics, Materials, and Structures. He recently published a senior/first graduate year textbook entitled Tissue Mechanics with Stephen B. Doty.