A Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University, Jonathan Wickert teaches and conducts research in the areas of applied mechanics, dynamics, and mechanical vibration. As a researcher and consultant, he has worked with companies and federal agencies on a diverse range of engineering problems including computer disk drives and tape libraries; the manufacture of sheet metal, fiberglass, polymers, and industrial chemicals; automotive brakes; radial flow gas turbines; and various consumer products. Dr. Wickert received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of… Cambridge. He has served as associate editor of engineering journals, as a division chair in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and as chair of the undergraduate mechanical engineering program at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Wickert has received awards in recognition of his teaching and research from the Society of Automotive Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Information Storage Industry Consortium, and he was elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.