George G. Adams (engineer)

{{short description|American mechanical engineer (born 1948)}}

George G. Adams (born 1948) is an American mechanical engineer specializing in tribology, contact mechanics, dynamics, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). He is a distinguished professor in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering department at Northeastern University, Boston. Together with João Arménio Correia Martins, he discovered the frictional dynamic instabilities or Adams-Martins instabilities.{{cite journal | author = Adams, G. G. | title = Self-excited oscillations of two elastic half-spaces sliding with a constant coefficient of friction |doi=10.1115/1.2896013| journal = Journal of Applied Mechanics| year = 1995| volume = 62| issue = 4 | pages = 867–872| bibcode = 1995JAM....62..867A }} Adams has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals,[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RB3ueXAAAAAJ&hl=en George G. Adams on Google Scholar Citation] presenting new mathematical solutions of fundamental problems of mechanics, such as the dynamics of elastic structures subjected to moving loads,{{cite journal |author1=Choros, J. |author2=Adams, G.G. | title = A steadily moving load on an elastic beam resting on a tensionless Winkler foundation|doi=10.1115/1.3424492| journal = Journal of Applied Mechanics| year = 1979| volume = 46|issue=1 | pages = 175–180|bibcode=1979JAM....46..175C }} the contact of elastic plates with account to the adhesion force,{{cite journal |author1=Majidi, C. |author2=Adams G. G. | title = A simplified formulation of adhesion problems with elastic plates |doi=10.1098/rspa.2009.0060| journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society A| year = 2009| volume = 465|issue=2107 | pages = 2217–2230|bibcode=2009RSPSA.465.2217M |s2cid=122601465 }} as well as his studies of adhesion in MEMS microswitches{{cite journal | author = Majumder, S., McGruer, N.E., Adams, G.G., Zavracky, P.M., Morrison, R.H., & Krim J. | title = Study of contacts in an electrostatically actuated microswitch |doi=10.1016/S0924-4247(01)00627-6| journal = Sensors and Actuators | year = 2001| volume = 93| issue = 1 | pages = 19–26| bibcode = 2001SeAcA..93...19M | citeseerx = 10.1.1.557.3016 | s2cid = 46230996 }} and of contact mechanics.{{cite journal |author1=Adams, A |author2=Nosonovsky, M. | title = Contact Modeling — Forces |doi=10.1016/S0301-679X(00)00063-3| journal = Tribology International | year = 2000| volume = 33 |issue=5–6 | pages = 441–442}} He has had many government and industry contracts and research grants.[http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~adams_g/ George G. Adams faculty website]

Adams has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cooper Union (1969), and MS (1972) and PhD (1975) degrees in Mechanical Engineering (Applied Mechanics) from the University of California at Berkeley, where his advisor was David B. Bogy.[http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=107248 George G. Adams on Mathematics Genealogy Project] Adams is also an educator and administrator. He a fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), where he is chair of the Executive Committee of the Tribology Division and founded its Contact Mechanics Technical Committee.