Ravi Kiran Yellavajjala

Ravi Kiran Yellavajjala says his love for engineering and science started early.

“As a kid, I was surrounded by brilliant students who attended a nearby engineering school,” he says. “I wondered how they could fix everything from a broken calculator to a dilapidated car. I followed in their footsteps and became an engineer myself.”

Yellavajjala is joining the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the seven schools in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, as an associate professor in Spring 2023. He says in addition to connecting with students in the classroom, he is looking forward to exploring metal additive manufacturing and its applications in structural engineering.

“Our work can potentially improve the pace of construction and architectural expression of steel structures,” Yellavajjala says. “I am very excited to learn about the new School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, as this opens up cross-disciplinary collaborative opportunities between manufacturing and structural engineers.”

Most recently, Yellavajjala served as an assistant professor at North Dakota State University and received a 2021 National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his efforts in connecting Native American communities with engineering education.

“I want my students to prioritize learning and disassociate their self-worth from their grades,” Yellavajjala says. “My students can expect to see a faculty member who emphasizes inculcating engineering intuition and mindset.”

Yellavajjala’s core expertise lies in the field of experimental and theoretical mechanics. Specifically, he is interested in microstructure- and micromechanics-based modeling of damage in engineering materials and structures. His other interests include constitutive modeling of materials, numerical methods, sensitivity analyses of structural response, forensic failure analysis and advanced visualization techniques.

He is an associate editor for American Society of Civil Engineering Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering and served as guest editor for a couple of special issues devoted to steel structures research, including Advances in Structural Steel Research and Sustainable and Resilient Steel Structures.

Outside of teaching, Yellavajjala says he spends his free time with his family including his wife and two young sons. He says they are a big influence on his decision to come to ASU.

“Diverse and talented students, renowned faculty colleagues and a perfect university-industry ecosystem to pursue cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research are a few reasons behind my choice,” Yellavajjala says. “Moreover, my family is excited to move to a sunny and fast-growing metro area.”

Meet the newest faculty members of the Fulton Schools of Engineering here.

Written by Monica Williams