Leicester engineering Professor honoured

The new Head of the Department of Engineering is one of 50 of the UK’s finest engineers to be elected as new Fellows to the Royal Academy of Engineering on the day of its 40th annual general meeting.

Among the new Fellows to be elected is Professor Sarah Hainsworth (pictured), Professor of Materials and Forensic Engineering at Leicester. Renowned engineers from across the country are elected to the Academy in recognition of their outstanding and continuing contributions to the profession. The 2016 list also includes two International Fellows, recognised for their significant contributions to engineering outside the UK.

As well as leading the University’s Department of Engineering, Professor Hainsworth is Director of the Advanced Structural Dynamics Evaluation Centre (ASDEC) based at the MIRA Technology Park. Her research has included measuring the mechanical properties of small volumes of material, studying the forces involved in stabbing, characterising tool marks in injury and dismemberment and the use of cutting-edge vibration techniques in the measurement and analysis of structures and materials.

Professor Hainsworth said: “I am absolutely delighted that my work has been recognised in this way.  I am incredibly honoured to be joining the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship.  I am also grateful to the many colleagues with whom I have worked both at Leicester and elsewhere over the course of my career for contributing to stimulating, exciting and rewarding research in the different areas I have worked.”