I will help organize of the Meshfree and Particle Methods minisymposia at the 2017 USNCCM conference, where I will also be the corresponding organizer. My co-organizers are JS Chen of UC San Diego, Zhen Chen of the University of Missouri, and Sheng-Wei Chi of the University of Illinois, Chicago. 

Abstracts are open for submission November 1, 2016 – February 28, 2017 at http://14.usnccm.org/abstract-submission. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

• Recent advances in meshfree and particle methods, material point methods, partition of unity and extended/generalized methods, smoothed particle hydrodynamics, peridynamics, and generalized finite difference methods
• Recent advances in domain integration for the Galerkin formulation
• Strong form collocation methods
• Rank stability, kernel stability, and other stability issues associated with nodally integrated Galerkin meshfree methods and collocation meshfree methods
• Recent advances in handling rough solutions in the form of stationary and transient strong and weak discontinuities
• Recent advances in formulations for extreme material distortion, fragmentation, contact and impact, and material instability
• Identification of classes of problems for which meshfree methods are superior than conventional mesh-based methods
• Simulation of multi-phase (solid, fluid and gas) interactions involving failure evolution
• Simulation of structural responses to extreme loading conditions such as blast, impact, and penetration
• Simulation of multi-physics phenomena (diffusion, steady state and transient state)
• Simulation of manufacturing processes
• Parallel-computing and large-scale simulations
• Multi-scale simulation of geo-materials, polymer matrix composites, alloys, and ceramics
• Bio and nano mechanics and material system responses

Penn State has issued a press release about me joining the department:

Two new faculty members join civil and environmental engineering
http://www.cee.psu.edu/news/2016-fall-new-faculty.aspx

I have officially started my position at Penn State as an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. I will also be holding the endowed position of the L Robert and Mary L Kimball Early Career Development Professorship. This year I will advise one PhD student and one post-doc. 

I have co-authored a review article on meshfree methods along with JS Chen of UC San Diego, and Sheng-Wei Chi of the University of Illinois, Chicago. It has been accepted for publication and will appear in ASCE's Journal of Engineering Mechanics.