Valery Levitas

Valery I. Levitas is the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Murray Harpole Chair in Engineering at Iowa State University, with primary appointments in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and courtesy appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. He is a Faculty Scientist at Ames Laboratory and a Fellow of ASME and IAAM. Levitas earned his Dr.-Eng habil (1995) and Doctor of Science (1988) in Continuum Mechanics, along with a Ph.D. in Materials Science (1981) and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (1978) from institutions in Hannover, Moscow, Kiev, and Ukraine.

His research interests include high-pressure mechanochemistry, four-scale theory and simulations (atomistic to macroscale), in situ synchrotron radiation experiments with rotational diamond anvil cells, and phase field approaches to martensitic transformations, dislocations, and material instabilities. He pioneered concepts like virtual melting below thermodynamic temperatures, melt-dispersion mechanisms for aluminum particle reactions, and pressure self-focusing effects.

Scientific awards include the Khan International Medal (2017), European Academy of Sciences and Arts election (2023), and ASME Fellow (2007). His publications span 487 works (304 journal papers, 3 books) with a Google Scholar h-index of 71. He has secured over $14.9M in grants (including 22 federal grants from NSF, ARO, ONR, etc.).