Toshio Nakamura

Professor Toshio Nakamura is a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University, leading the Computational Solid Mechanics Lab. He holds a Ph.D. (1986), M.S. (1983), and B.S. (1981) from Brown University. His research focuses on computational stress and fracture analysis of materials, including thermal spray coatings, composites, and laminated structures. He has held visiting positions at the National University of Singapore and Tokyo Institute of Technology and is affiliated with the NSF MRSEC Center for Thermal Spray Research. Notable awards include the Ross Coffin Purdy Award (1992).

• Education: Brown University (Ph.D. 1986, M.S. 1983, B.S. 1981)
• Professional Experience: Stony Brook University (1987–present), Senior Fellow (National University of Singapore, 1997), Visiting Research Fellow (Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1993–1994)

Research interests include cavitation in elastomeric solids, mechanical analysis of tooth enamel, and anelastic behavior of plasma-sprayed coatings. He teaches courses like Applied Stress Analysis (MEC 455/530), Fracture Mechanics (MEC 641), and Advanced Finite Element Analysis (MEC 651). Collaborators include Sanjay Sampath (Thermal Spray Research) and Oscar Lopez-Pamies (Cavitation Theory).

Current projects involve modeling tooth enamel mechanics, developing constitutive models for composites, and predicting cavitation in nonlinear elastic solids. Facilities include advanced equipment like the NanoTest Micro-Nano Indenter and Thermolyne furnaces.