April 12, 2016
Bo Jin, a senior Ph.D. candidate advised by Professor Steven Nutt, Director of USC M.C. Gill Composites Center, received the 2016 USC Medallion of Honor and the PKP Ph.D. Student Research Achievement Award. The medallion and the award along with a check of $1,000 were presented at USC Town and Gown in the 35th Academic Honors Convocation hosted by USC President C. L Max Nikias. Bo was nominated by his advisor Professor Nutt and received this special honor representing Viterbi School of Engineering and STEM field in USC.
Left: Professor Richard Fliegel, Vice President for Faculty, USC Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, presenting the award to Bo Jin. Right: Mrs. Sam Graves (Graduate Students Advisor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering), Dr. Tim Graves (The Aerospace Corporation), Miss Xiaochen Li (Ph.D. student, Gill Composites Center), Prof. Lessa Grunenfelder, Prof. Steven Nutt, Sr. Engineer Brian Casey (MSC NASTRAN), Bo Jin, Dr. Tim Centea, Dr. Atul Jain, Dr. Reza Rokni (Postdoctoral Fellows, Gill Composites Center), Mr. Yunpeng Zhang (Lab Manager, Gill Composites Center).
From April to September 2015, Bo conducted research at IMDEA Materials, the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies of Materials in Spain. He played a key role in the innovative efforts to design and re-use aerospace-grade composite materials, which has significantly advanced the sustainability of the aerospace industry. These materials are traditionally buried in landfills, where they do not degrade for decades. During his Ph.D. research directed by Professor Nutt, Bo has also collaborated with Nextgen Aeronautics, Boeing’s Supplier of the Year, making significant contributions to discovering methods for design optimization of aerospace composite structures. His algorithms have been used by MSC NASTRAN (NASA Structural Analysis) to improve the accuracy and efficiency of linear and nonlinear finite element analysis. Bo’s work advances the state-of-the-art finite element methods and leads to real-world applications that have fundamentally guided current practices of aerospace structural design.
Bo received his master’s degree in computational solid mechanics from Rutgers University in 2011. He has lived and studied in Asia, Europe, and the United States. During his time at USC, he served as the Chair of TA Fellows (2013-2015) of USC Center for Excellence in Teaching, and as Vice President (2012-2013) of USC Chinese Students and Scholars Association. Previously, USC recognized Bo Jin with its 2015 Medallion of Honor for the University Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2015), Diploma in Innovation Research Fund (2013), Academic Professional Development Research Fund (2012), AME Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award (2014), and Award for Excellence in Teaching (2012, 2013, and 2014). For his superlative work on the design and analysis of composite materials, the University of Southern California is proud to present Bo Cheng Jin with the 2016 PKP Ph.D. Student Research Achievement Award.
