January 3, 2024
By Ashley Ritchie

Michael Leamy, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been appointed director of graduate studies.

Leamy has been serving in the interim role for the past year and has done a phenomenal job providing support to students, faculty, and staff in all areas of academic services.

In his new role, Leamy will continue to advise and provide career guidance to students, resolve student complaints and difficulties, help recruit and admit graduate students, manage graduate fellowships and the distance learning MSME program, manage graduate student support staff, assist the Cabinet in the governance of the School and issues that affect the Georgia Tech community, and more.

“I am honored to continue to work with Mike in this capacity and grateful for his commitment to permanently lead the Graduate Student Support Office,” said Devesh Ranjan, the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. School Chair.

Leamy joined Georgia Tech as an assistant professor in August 2007. He served as an associate professor from 2012-2018 and was promoted to professor in 2018. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1998. His research interests are in emerging and multidisciplinary areas of engineering science, with an emphasis on nonlinear dynamical behavior in structures, materials, and complex systems. His research program has been supported by the Ford Motor Corporation, General Motors, Honeywell Inc., Ferrari S.p.A., ThyssenKrupp Elevator America, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Army Research Office, and the Office of Naval Research.

Leamy has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Vibration and Acoustics (2011-2017), Wave Motion (2017-Present), Applied Mechanics Reviews (2018-Present), and Nonlinear Dynamics (2019-Present). In addition, he has authored or co-authored over 225 peer-reviewed publications.

Before joining Georgia Tech, Leamy worked as an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, a research scientist at the MITRE Corporation in McLean, VA, a research associate at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, and as a postdoctoral fellow at Israel’s Institute of Technology (Technion).

Leamy has received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Michigan (1998), a Koret Foundation Fellowship from the Technion (1998), the Army’s Superior Civilian Service Award (2003), the Lockheed Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2010), and the Lloyd Hamilton Donnell Best Paper Award from Applied Mechanics Reviews (co-recipient, 2016). In addition, he was named a Fellow by ASME in 2014 and a Woodruff Faculty Fellow by the Woodruff School in 2017.