Dr. Jessica P Fick

Dr. Fick earned her PhD and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in computational solid mechanics, from John Hopkins University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Dr. Fick's research interest focus on failure mechanisms and their connection to the difference scales, from the microscopic details to the macroscopic process of failure. A computationalist at heart, she developed a numerical tool to predict fragment sizes for different rates of loading which includes an elastic-viscoplastic material model, thermal softening and conduction, communication through the wave equation, and failure due to void nucleation, growth, and coalescence. Prior to her graduate work, Dr. Fick worked for the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD where she found a love of shock physics and failure analysis.

Dr. Fick typically teaches courses in design and mechanics in the mechanical engineering curriculum; her primary focus is senior design.  Dr. Fick currently serves as an assistant dean to the College of EMS which includes coordination of senior design, our KEEN partnership, and EMS facilites needs.