Ellen Arruda

Ellen Arruda is the Tim Manganello/BorgWarner Department Chair and Maria Comninou Collegiate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She holds joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Her research bridges biomechanics and materials science, focusing on soft tissue mechanics and polymer behavior.

• PhD (Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 1992)
• MS (Engineering Mechanics, Penn State, 1988)
• BS (Engineering Science, Penn State, 1985)

Her research spans biomechanics, soft tissue engineering, and polymer mechanics, with applications to knee ligament replacement, impact-resistant materials, and brain-protective helmets. She utilizes full-field displacement mapping and computational modeling to analyze tissue and polymer responses under extreme conditions.

Recent publications emphasize knee ligament characterization, nanocomposite design, and impact mitigation. Her work has attracted major funding from DARPA, NSF, and NIH, among others.

• National Academy of Engineering (2017)
• A.C. Eringen Medal (2021)
• Nadai Medal (2019)
• Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (2014)

As Principal Investigator of the Soft Tissue and Polymer Mechanics Lab, she leads a team exploring tissue engineering strategies and advanced material solutions. Her lab has developed 3D scaffold-free constructs for bone-ligament interfaces and blast-resistant composites.