COLLEGE STATION -- Vikram K. Kinra, the General Dynamics Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been elected a 2004 Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics (AAM). New Fellows must be nominated by two current AAM Fellows and are elected based on their contributions to aerospace engineering. Kinra is one of only three AAM Fellows elected for 2004. His research areas are in wave propagation, material damping, fracture mechanics and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation. Kinra said that it means a lot to him to see his name alongside other Fellows whose abilities he has respected throughout his career. "Many of the current Fellows have been my mentors," he said. "It is indeed an honor to join them as a Fellow." Kinra joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M in September 1982. He has received numerous awards, including a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1998 by the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M, a Lockheed Martin Award for Excellence in Engineering Teaching in 1997 and a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995 from the College of Engineering at Utah State University. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (Kampur, India), his master’s degree from Utah State University and his doctorate from Brown University.
