Lisa Pruitt, Chancellor's Professor in Mechanical Engineering, has been named to the first Lawrence Talbot Chair in Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.

Endowed by Vivian Talbot, the Chair honors her late husband, Lawrence Talbot, a University of California, Berkeley, emeritus professor of mechanical engineering known for his work in fluid mechanics. The term of the Chair is five years and it is intended to support the teaching, research and scholarship of a faculty member in the fields of Mechanical Engineering and/or Bioengineering.

Lawrence Talbot joined the UC Berkeley Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1951, doing work in high altitude and high speed aerodynamics that was largely used in satellite design and use. Talbot worked on rarefied gas dynamics in what was then known on campus as the Division of Aeronautical Sciences at a time when the division was well known for its work in that field.

In the late 1960s, Talbot turned his attention to bioengineering in the early days of that field, working on fluid dynamics of the body's blood.

Talbot also did research in shock structure, combustion and flames, and real gas effects before he retired in 1991.

In the last 20 years of his life, including during his retirement, Talbot worked with colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on his research in turbulent combustion and flames. This work combined theoretical analyses, computational modeling, and experiments employing state-of-the art laser-based optical diagnostics. This research led to improved efficiency of gas turbine engines while reducing emissions of pollutants.

Over the years, Talbot was awarded several honors and awards. He was a Miller Research Professor in 1960-61, a Guggenheim Scholar in 1967-68 and a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Talbot, who earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, was a visiting fellow at All Souls College at Oxford University from 1967 to 1968 and a research scholar at Magdalen College at Oxford University from 1975 to 1976.

Talbot particularly liked working with students, mentoring and supervising many Ph.D. students who went on to successful careers in academia, industry and government.

Lisa Pruitt received her Ph.D. in Engineering from Brown University in 1993. She joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty in 1993 and became affiliated with the Bioengineering faculty in 1999.

Pruitt is devoted to mentoring and outreach and she currently serves as the Associate Dean for Lifelong Learning and Outreach Education.

Her research is focused on orthopedic biomaterials with an emphasis on structure–property relationships of load bearing polymers and biological materials. Her research has been supported by NIH, NSF, ONR, DARPA, OREF and industry.

Professor Pruitt's teaching experience includes freshman seminars; undergraduate courses on Mechanical Behavior and Processing of Materials, Structural Aspects of Biomaterials, and Principles of
Bioengineering; and graduate courses on Fracture Mechanics, Mechanical Behavior of Materials, and Polymer Engineering.

Included in her many honors and awards are the University of California Chancellor's Professorship, 2004-2009, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, 2004, Miller Research Professorship, 2000, Congressional Citation for Engineering Excellence, 1999, Engineering Excellence and Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, University of Rhode Island, 1999, Chancellor's Research Initiative Award, 1999-2000, ONR Young Investigator Award, 1998-2001 and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 1996-2001.