Arash Yavari (AY) is a Professor in the Schools of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. A Fellow of the Society of Engineering Science and a member of the American Academy of Mechanics, his research is in continuum mechanics and applied mathematics, with emphasis on elasticity and anelasticity, growth and remodeling, and geometric theories of defects. His work has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He has published over 115 peer-reviewed papers on geometric formulations of mechanics, with applications including accretion–ablation, transformation cloaking, and active matter.
Professor Yavari’s research is in theoretical and computational mechanics, with emphasis on elasticity, anelasticity, viscoelasticity, defects, and the geometric structure of continuum and discrete mechanical systems. His early work focused on the mechanics of crystalline solids with defects, including dislocations, disclinations, point defects, and ferroelectric domain walls, as well as on discrete boundary-value problems, lattice mechanics, and rigorous continuum limits. More recently, his research has concentrated on geometric formulations of mechanics using differential geometry, exterior calculus, and topology. He has developed geometric theories of nonlinear elasticity and anelasticity, including Cauchy elasticity, surface elasticity, residual stress, growth and remodeling, and nonlinear viscoelasticity. A central direction of his work is the universal program of nonlinear elasticity and anelasticity, which seeks to identify classes of deformations and material responses that are independent of constitutive assumptions. His research addresses the mathematical structure of balance laws, constitutive modeling on manifolds, and the relationship between discrete and continuum descriptions of materials with evolving geometry, microstructure, and internal structure.
| Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics | California Institute of Technology | 2005 |
| M.S. in Civil Engineering | George Washington University | 2000 |
Professor Yavari’s teaching focuses on mechanics and applied mathematics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He regularly teaches Statics and Mechanics of Deformable Bodies in the undergraduate curriculum, and advanced courses in applied and engineering mathematics, mechanics of solids, and nonlinear elasticity at the graduate level. His approach emphasizes fundamental principles, mathematical rigor, and clear physical interpretation. He aims to train students to formulate problems precisely, understand the structure of governing equations, and develop solutions grounded in continuum mechanics and applied mathematics. Across all levels, he places particular emphasis on analytical reasoning, careful derivation, and connecting mathematical formulation to physical behavior.
2025 Best Referee Award, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
2019 Fellow of the Society of Engineering Science (SES)
2013 U.S. Junior Oberwolfach Fellow
2013 OCCAM Visiting Fellow, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
2011 OCCAM Visiting Fellow, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
2010 OCCAM Visiting Fellow, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
2010 AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award
2010 Engineering Fracture Mechanics Top 10 Most Cited Articles (2005–2009)
2010 Georgia Institute of Technology, Excellence in Research Award
2007 Georgia Institute of Technology, Bill Schultz Junior Faculty Teaching Award
