February 17, 2012 — James G. Simmonds, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering in the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science, received the Warner T. Koiter Medal at the recent American Society of Mechanical Engineers annual meeting in Denver.

Simmonds was recognized for seminal contributions to linear and nonlinear theories in solid mechanics, with special emphasis on plates and shells, and for an extensive body of journal publications and books on solid mechanics and applied mathematics in a career spanning more than 50 years.

On the engineering faculty from 1966 to 1998, Simmonds won several awards for his research, teaching and service: the Engineering School's Mac Wade Award in 1980, the President's and Visitors' Research Prize in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 1980, the U.Va. Alumni Association's Distinguished Professor Award in 1983 and a Pólya Award of the Mathematical Association of America in 1995. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The Koiter Medal was established in 1996 to recognize distinguished contributions to the field of solid mechanics. It puts special emphasis on the effective blending of theoretical and applied elements, and on leadership in the international solid mechanics community.

The medal, funded by the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, honors the contributions of Warner T. Koiter (1914-1997), world-renowned authority in the field of solid mechanics.