Resume - Dr. Yoseph Bar-Cohen

 

Dr. Yoseph Bar-Cohen is a Senior Research Scientist and the supervisor of the Advanced Technologies Group (x355N) as well as in-charge of the Nondestructive Evaluation and Advance Actuators (NDEAA) Lab, which he has established in 1991. He is a physicist specializing in electroactive materials/mechanisms and biomimetics (also known as Smart Materials and Structures) as well as ultrasonic Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE).  He received his Ph. D. in Physics (1979) and M.Sc. in Materials Science (1973) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.  Under his leadership many innovative concepts and mechanisms were initiated, analytical modeled, developed, and tested for planetary exploration, commercial, medical, and other applications.  Dr. Bar-Cohen is a Fellow of two technical societies: SPIE and the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT).  From Nov. 2009 to Sept. 2011, he served as the Chair of the JPL’s Senior Research Scientists Council.   He made two notable discoveries of ultrasonic wave phenomena in composite materials: the polar backscattering (1979) and the leaky Lamb waves (LLW) (1983).  Currently, he is responsible for developing ultrasonic drills and planetary samplers, wireless acoustic mechanical feedthroughs, piezoelectric motors, ultrasonic NDE and health monitoring methods, haptic interfaces, electroactive polymer (artificial muscles) actuated mechanisms, and high power ultrasonic techniques.  The drill and the electroactive polymer related activity were selected as NASA and JPL Technology Spotlights.  His prior affiliations include Israel Aircraft Industry (1971-1979), NRC Postdoc at AFML (1979-1980), SRL (1980-1983) and McDonnell Douglas Corp. (1983-1991).  His scientific, engineering and technology accomplishments have earned him two NASA Honor Award Medals - NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (2001), and NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement (2006), two SPIE’s Lifetime Achievement Awards – NDE (2001) and Smart Materials and Structures (2005), the ASNT’s 2002 Lester Honor Lecture Award, the 2006 ASNT Sustained Excellence award, the 2007 SPIE President’s Award as well as many other honors and awards.

 

His initiatives and proactive efforts in the area of Electroactive Polymers led to the SPIE’s EAPAD annual conference (which he has been chairing since 1999), the WW-EAP Newsletter, and the WW-EAP Webhub.  This website is part of his JPL's NDEAA website that received over million total hits in about 18-months (from January 1, 2000 to July 2 2001).  The highest hits/day was recorded on March 9, 2005, with 9063 total hits and 3626 unique hits.  Moreover, the most comprehensive and authoritative book on the subject of EAP, for which he is the Editor and co-author, was published in March 2001 by SPIE Press.  Since the first edition run out, he made extensive updates to this book and published in 2004 the 2nd edition.  Also, he co-editing a book that is entitled “Biologically-Inspired Intelligent Robots” examining the scientific and engineering states as well as the future possibilities of making robots based on these materials.  His edited and coauthored book entitled “Biomimetics – Biologically Inspired Technologies” and “Biomimetics: Nature-Based Innovation” that provide a high level approach to this topic.  This books was published by CRC Press in 2005 and 2011, respectively.  In an effort to promote rapid advances in the development of EAP, Dr. Bar-Cohen posed in 1999 a challenge to the worldwide research and engineering community to develop a robotic arm that is actuated by artificial muscles to win an armwrestling match against a human opponent. He held the first armwrestling match between EAP actuated robot and human on March 7, 2005 as part of the SPIE Annual International EAPAD Conference..  Three arms wrestled with a high school female student (she is now a Caltech student) and she won against all of them This arms lose in the contest highlighted the complexity and enormity of the challenge that he posed and it attracted enormous professional and public attention to the field.  The graphic representation, which he created to illustrate the arm-wrestling challenge, has become the icon of the field of EAP in technical presentations worldwide.

 

He made significant contributions to NDE of composites and bonded solids as well as aging aircraft structures.  He led the development of a crawler, known as MACS (Multifunctional Automated Crawling System) that can serve as a robotic platform for PC board base instruments.  As a follow-on effort, he edited and co-authored an ASNT book on the subject of robotics for NDE, which was issued in April 2000.  Other contributions include real time monitoring of composites curing, broadband transducers, a LLW device for nondestructive determination of elastic properties of composites and a catheter-based acoustic microscope.

 

Dr. Bar-Cohen’s research and accomplishments with his teams received extensive media coverage including NASA Press Releases, JPL's Universe, and media articles in daily newspapers (Diariovasco (Spain), Glendale News Press, Globes (Israel), Haaretz (Israel), LA Times, Maariv (Israel), Newsday, Newsweek Pasadena Start News, The Sunday Times, Yediot Aharonot (Israel), etc.), magazines (Assistive Technologies, Aerospace America, Aviation Week, Business Week, Computerworld (Switzerland), Discover, EE Times, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, New Scientist, Newsweek, Smart Business, Orthotics and Prosthetics Business News, Poptronics, Popular Science, Rosh Gadol (Israel), Scientific American, Time Magazine, Tech Directions, STROM (Switzerland), etc.), technically related websites (Discovery Channel, Natural History, MSNBC, RobotBooks.com, Nando Times News, etc.), as well as radio (NPR-All Things Considered, BBC, Voice of America, Austria’s FM4, etc.) and TV interviews.  Dr. Bar-Cohen is listed on 34 Who’s Who Biographic Directories and his brief bio is listed on Wikipedia with links to his websites.  Also, the Nov. 2001 issue of Tech Briefs featured him as a Who’s Who in NASA.  For his contributions to the field of electroactive polymers, Business Week named him, under the category Gurus of Technology, as one of “Five People Pushing Tech's Boundaries” and “The Brain behind Plastic Muscle”; Popular Science (mirrored by CNN) named him the “Artificial Muscle Man”; SPIE’s OE magazine described him as “redefining robotics” and Scientific American described him as the “unofficial coordinator” of the field of EAP.

 

He made 360 publications, numerous presentations at national and international conferences, Chaired/CoChaired 44 Conferences/Symposia, has 22-registered patents and (co)Editor/Co-author of 7 books (with one in 2nd edition) and 23 conference proceedings, 103 New Technology Reports.  Moreover, he is a member of the

·         Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Structural Health Monitoring (IJSHM), Sept. 2001 to Nov. 2009 

·         International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems Editorial Advisory Board (since 2004). 

·         Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute for the Acceleration Studies Foundation (ASF), Since 2005

·         Editorial Board of the “Bioinspiration & Biomimetics: learning from nature” Journal, The Institute of Physics, England http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=board/1748-3190/1 (Since Sept. 2005, extended till Dec. 2014)

·         American Biographical Institute, Inc. (ABI)’s Distinguished Research Board of Advisors (Since Jan 2005). http://www.ars-journal.com/

·         Advisory Board of the Asia Pacific Committee on Smart and Nano Materials (APCSNM) http://www.smart-nano.org (Since Nov. 2007)

·         Editorial Board of the Journal of Bionic Engineering (JBE) since December 2009.

·         Editorial board of the Advances in Materials Research Journal since May 2011.

·         Associate Editor of the International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, Taylor & Francis Group, Since May 24, 2011

·         Biomimetics Book Series Editor, Taylor & Francis Group, Since 2010

·         Editor in Chief, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems responsible for the topic of Humanoid or Bioinspired Robotics, April 2013

 

 

EDUCATION

Ph. D. (1979), Physics; (1975-1979), The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

M. Sc. (1973), Materials Science; (1971-1973), The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

B. Sc. (1971), Physics; (1967-1971), The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

 

 

AFFILIATION HISTORY

1991‑Present   Senior Research Scientist & Group Supervisor, Advanced Technologies, 355N, NDEAA Lab, JPL, Pasadena, CA.

1983‑1991       Principal Specialist, McDonnell Douglas Corp., Long Beach, CA. 

1980‑1983       Sr. Physicist, Systems Research Lab, Dayton, Ohio, at the Air Force Materials Lab.

1979-1980       Post-doctorate, National Research Council (NRC) award, at the Air Force Materials Lab.

1971‑1979       Sr. NDE Specialist, Israel Aircraft Industry (IAI).

 

JPL Promotions history

Group Supervisor, Advanced Technologies, 355N – April 4, 2005 - Present

Acting Group Supervisor, Advanced Technologies, 355N – January 12, 2005– April 4, 2005

Section Staff – April 2003 to Dec. 2004

JPL Senior Research Scientist – Since June 18, 2001

 

TEACHING

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dept., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.

1989-1990    Adjunct lecturer

1990-1993    Adjunct full professor

 

HONORS AND AWARDS

·      Fellow of The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), July 2002

·      Fellow of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), October 1996

·      NASA Honor Award: NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal,  June 7, 2006

·      NASA Honor Award: NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, Aug. 8, 2001

·      SPIE's Smart Materials and Structures Lifetime Achievement Award - March 7, 2005

·      SPIE’s NDE Lifetime Achievement Award, March 6, 2001

·      SPIE President’s Award, Aug. 29, 2007

·      ASNT’s Award for Sustained Excellence, March 15, 2006

·      ASNT’s Lester Honor Lecture Award for Major contributions to the field of NDT, Nov. 2002

·      JPL Senior Research Scientist, June 18, 2001

·      73 NASA Class 1 Technical Brief Awards, between 1992-present

·      14 NASA Board (Space Act) Awards (5 awards in 2002, 2 in 2003, 2 in 2006, 1 in 2008, 1 in 2010, 2  in 2012, 1 in 2013)

·      Self-initiated and co-developed USDC (Ultrasonic Drill) received the 2000 R&D Magazine Award as one of the 100 most innovative instruments.

·      Co-received the Industrial Robot Highly Commended Award for the paper entitled "Lemur IIb: A Robotic System for Steep Terrain Access," that was presented at the 8th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR 2005), held in London, UK on Sept. 12 - 15, 2005.

·      JPL’s Level A Bonus Award for achievements in the field of EAP, Nov. 1999

·      JPL’s Team Bonus Award for leading the highly successful AGA’s Quiet Concrete Drill task, July 2005

·      JPL’s Nova Award for Technical Innovation and Leadership, March 1998

·      JPL’s Nova Award for Outstanding Achievement in Technology and R&D, May 1996

·      National Research Council (NRC) Fellowship Award, June 1979

 

MEMBERSHIP

American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), since 1979

The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), since 1998

 

Committees and Subcommittees Membership

SPIE

Publications Committee (2002-2005)

Nominating Committee (2004)

Fellows Selection Committee (2009- 2011)

 

ASNT

Research Council

Ultrasonics Committee (Served as the Chair from 1995 to 2001)

Aerospace Committees (till 2006)

 

IEEE

Advisor, RAS Technical Committee for Biologically Inspired Robots/Machines or Biomimetic Robots. (2007)

 

Materials Research Society (MRS)

Proceedings and Books Subcommittee (PBSC) (Nov. 2006 – Dec. 2007)

 

At JPL

Nov. 16, 2009 – Sept. 25, 2011  Chair of the Senior Research Scientists (SRS) Council

Jan. 1, 2009 – Sept. 25, 2011      Member of the Senior Research Scientists (SRS) Council

April 2010 – Sept 2011               Researcher Environment Improvement Team (under Bill Weber)

Feb. 1, 2005 – March 2007         Member of the Senior Research Scientists (SRS) Review Panel

Feb. 2010 – Sept. 2010               Member of the Division 35 Principal Promotion Advisory Board (PPAB)

Jan. 1, 2009 – March 2009          Member of the Division 35 Principal Promotion Advisory Board (PPAB)

March 1, 2004 – Aug. 2005        Member of the Division 35 Principal Promotion Advisory Board (PPAB)

 

PROPOSALS REVIEW BOARDS

•      ARPA-E (2012)

•      NSF (2012)

•      International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) of the US Department of State

•      NASA (including NSPIRES and EPSCoR)

•      National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)

•      NIH

•      US Army Research Office

•      US Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDE)

 

NASA

Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research 2011 [LASER11]

Moon and Mars Analog Missions Activities 2012 [MMAMA]

SBIR and STTR

 

Foreign research funding organizations

•      Austrian Science Foundation, Austria

•      Natural Sciences, Engineering Research Council of Canada

•      Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada

•      Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal.

•      Swiss National Science Foundation;, Switzerland

 

WHO’S WHO BIOGRAPHIC DIRECTORIES

1.      American Men and Woman of Science, 1991

2.      Who’s Who in America, 1991.

3.      Who’s Who in the West, 1992

4.      Who’s Who Worldwide Business Registry, 1994

5.      International Who’s Who of Professionals, 1996

6.      Dictionary of International Biography, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

7.      Lexington Who's Who, 1999

8.      International Man of the Year for 1999/2000

9.      Outstanding Scientists of the 20th Century, 2000 and 2004

10.  Who's Who in Polymers and Plastics, Technomics Publishing Company, 2000

11.  Leaders of Science, Technology and Engineering, 2000

12.  Outstanding People of the 21st Century, 2001, 2002, 2004

13.  International Biography Center’s 21st Century Award for Achievement, April 2001

14.  International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, 10th & 11th edition, Amer. Biographical Inst. (ABI), April 2001, May 2002, and June 2003.

15.  Who’s Who in the 21st Century, First Edition, April 2001

16.  Biography Today, New Delhi, India, page 509, Vol. II, 2001

17.  National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor in the new National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center – Sept. 7, 2001

18.  International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, 2002

19.  NASA Tech Briefs - Who’s Who in NASA, Nov. 2001, page 22

20.  Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century, IBC, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008

21.  Asia – Men and Woman of Achievement – Reguerdon Sdn. Bhd., August 2002, October 2003,

22.  Asia/Pacific Who’s Who – April 2004, Oct. 2004, July 2005 (Vol. VI), April 2007 (Vol. VII), Dec. 2008 (Vol. IX)

23.  Asian/American Who’s Who, Oct. 2004, April 2008 (Vol. V)

24.  Asian Admirable Achievers, Vol. I, page 43, 2007.

25.  Eminent Scientists of Today – 1st Edition, Oct. 2002

26.  Great Minds of the 21st Century, Nov. 2002, Nov. 2003, Dec. 2006

27.  Empowering Executives & Professional – United Who’s Who, Jan. 2005

28.  Distinguished and Admirable Achievers, July 2005

29.  Biography Today (Vol. III), Rifacimento International, 2005

30.  Who’s Who in American Education, 2006-2007

31.  Dictionary of International Biography, IBC, The Cambridge Blue Book, 32nd, 33rd and 34th (Sept 2007). 35th (2009), 36th (2011)

32.  Expert Elite Frontispiece of the International Directory of Experts and Expertise, July 2007

33.  500 Greats Geniuses of the 21th Century, American Biographical Institute, 2008, 2009

34.  Strathmore's Who's Who, 2009/2010 edition

 


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