• Professor, Mechanical Engineering
  • J.M. Forsyth Chair Professor
  • University Distinguished Professor
  • Regents Professor
  • Affiliated Faculty, Biomedical Engineering
  • Affiliated Faculty, Chemical Engineering
  • Affiliated Faculty, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Affiliated Faculty, Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution
  • Affiliated Faculty, Mathematics
  • Affiliated Faculty, Ocean Engineering
  • Affiliated Faculty, Multidisciplinary Engineering
  • Fellow, Michael E. DeBakey Institute, Texas A&M University
  • Senior Research Fellow, Texas Transportation Institute
Kumbakonam Rajagopal

Educational Background

  • Ph.D., University of Minnesota – 1978
  • M.S., Illinois Institute of Technology – 1974
  • B. Tech., Indian Institute of Technology – 1973

Research Interests

  • Continuum mechanics and its applications to Non-linear materials.

Awards & Honors

  • 2021 Professional Achievement Award, Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2021 ASME Worcester Reed Warner Medal
  • Distinguished Professor Regents Professor Forsyth Chair in Mechanical Engineering
  • 2019 Honoris Causa, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
  • 2016 President’s award for Distinguished Visitors, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva
  • 2015 Special issues (3 issues), Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids in honor of K. R. Rajagopal’s contributions to the field of Mechanics
  • 2014 TUS President’s Award, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo
  • 2013 Honoris Causa, Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi”, Iasi
  • 2012 Honoris Causa, Charles University, Prague
  • 2011 Special Issue of Mathematical Models and Methods of Applied Sciences, On the occasion of K. R. Rajagopal’s 60th Birthday, Volume 21, 1
  • 2011 Special Issue of Applications of Mathematics, Dedicated to K. R. Rajagopal’s 60th Birthday, Volume 56, 1
  • 2011 Special Issue (4 issues) International Journal of Advances in Engineering Science and Applied Mathematics, Dedicated K. R. Rajagopal’s 60th birthday, 3
  • 2011 Special Issue of The International Journal of Structural Changes in Solids, On the Occasion of K. R. Rajagopal’s 60th birthday, 3, 3
  • 2010 ISI Highly Cited Researcher
  • 2010 Fellow, The Indian National Academy of Engineering
  • 2010 Honoris Causa, University of Pretoria, Pretoria
  • 2006 Memorial Medal, Charles University, Prague
  • 2005 Archie Higdon Award, American Society of Engineering Education
  • 2004 Eringen Medal, Society of Engineering Science

Selected Publications

  • KR Rajagopal, A note on the linearization of the constitutive relations of non-linear elastic bodies, Mechanics Research Communications
  • K. R. Rajagopal, M. Zappalorto, Bodies described by non-monotonic strain-stress constitutive equations containing a crack subject to anti-plane shear stress, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 149, 494-499 (2018).
  • J Málek, K Rajagopal, K Tůma, Derivation of the Variants of the Burgers Model Using a Thermodynamic Approach and Appealing to the Concept of Evolving Natural Configurations, Fluids 3 (4), 69 (2018).
  • MR Nivitha, JM Krishnan, KR Rajagopal, Viscoelastic transitions exhibited by modified and unmodified bitumen, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 1-15 (2018).
  • AD Freed, KR Rajagopal, A promising approach for modeling biological fibers (vol 227, pg 1609, 2016), ACTA MECHANICA 229 (8), 3573-3573 (2018).