Glaucio Paulino has barely been on campus two weeks and he’s already making news: he’s been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics.

The news, announced in early January, is especially significant because the academy picks just one new fellow each year. That makes it particularly special, Paulino said.

“I am honored and humbled by this award,” he said.

“During my professional career, many of those in that very selective group [of AAM fellows] used to be role models for me, and thus, I am quite pleased to be joining this group of mechanicians.”

Paulino joined the faculty in the School of Civil and Environmental this month as the new Raymond Allen Jones Chair after a decade and a half at the University of Illinois. He works in structural analysis, computational mechanics, and topology optimization of structures and materials, among other areas.

AAM officials noted his significant contributions to mechanics over the span of his career, especially “seminal contributions on fracture mechanics of emerging material/structural systems and multiscale topology optimization,” according to nomination materials.

Paulino’s election makes him the third Georgia Tech fellow in the academy from three different disciplines, highlighting the breadth of mechanics across engineering fields. He joins Dewey Hodges from the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and David McDowell from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

“I am happy that this is the very first award that I received as a Georgia Tech professor,” Paulino said, “as it will contribute to the visibility of our great School and Institute.”