Faculty Profiles
Vlado Lubarda
Distinguished Professor of Teaching, NENG
Adjunct Professor, MAE
Mechanics of Solids and Materials, Engineering Education
Professor Lubarda is interested in a number of unique aspects related to solids, including elasticity, plasticity, dislocations, damage mechanics, fracture mechanics, and biomechanics. He is also dedicated to advancing the field of engineering education through pedagogical contributions and innovation. He applies his extensive knowledge of elasticity and plasticity theories, and mechanics of materials, the subjects of his five books, to better understand and predict the behavior of materials. A material that is elastic returns to its original shape upon unloading. An elastoplastic solid will only partly recover its shape upon unloading, remaining permanently deformed. Oftentimes, this characteristic is desirable. In creating automobiles for example, a metal must be shaped and pressed to form certain shapes while at the same time retaining strength and reliability. It is a matter of finding the balance between deformation and strength, and knowing a solid's limits. In other cases, elastoplasticity is undesirable and may compromise the structural integrity (e.g., buildings and bridges).
Lubarda has worked with organizations such as the NSF, the U.S. Army, and ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America) to provide a greater understanding of solid behaviors under various conditions. He studied fundamental aspects of mathematical and physical theories of elastoplasticity with funding from NSF. For the Army he did research in damage and rock mechanics to gauge the effectiveness of underground bunkers in protecting against outside penetration. And for ALCOA he analyzed dislocations and other imperfections in aluminum alloys to improve the mechanical properties related to their ductility and strength. In the field of engineering education he contributed to advances in the teaching of engineering mechanics and materials, and the development of innovative digital learning and assessment frameworks. He authored four engineering textbooks and one monograph.
Capsule Bio:
Vlado Lubarda received his mechanical Dipl.Ing. degree from the University of Montenegro in 1975, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University in 1977 and 1979. He was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Montenegro from 1980-1989, Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Associate Professor at Brown University from 1989-1991, and Visiting Associate Professor at Arizona State University from 1992-1997. Since 1998, he is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the University of California San Diego, and since 2013 Professor of Teaching in the UC San Diego's Department of NanoEngineering (now Chemical and Nano Engineering), where he was promoted to Distinguished Professor of Teaching in 2026.
Dr. Lubarda has done research work in the fields of elasticity, plasticity, viscoelasticity, dislocation theory, damage mechanics, fracture mechanics, nanomechanics, biomechanics, and engineering education. He is the author of more than 150 journal and conference publications, and five books: Strength of Materials (University of Montenegro Press, 1985), Elastoplasticity Theory (CRC Press, 2002), Mechanics of Solids and Materials (Cambridge University Press, 2006, with Robert Asaro), Topics in Solid Mechanics: Elasticity, Plasticity, Damage, Nano and Biomechanics (Obod Press, 2013), and Intermediate Solid Mechanics, (Cambridge University Press, 2020, with Marko Lubarda). He has served on the editorial boards of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids, Acta Mechanica, and Proceedings of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, and is the recipient of the Barbara and Paul Saltman Distinguished Teaching Award, three Teacher of the Year Awards in the MAE Department, one in the NanoEngineering Department, and three Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards for Engineering. He is also a Fellow of Revelle College, the oldest of the eight UC San Diego colleges. Professor Lubarda is a member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Montenegrin Academy of Engineering, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Selected Publications:
