Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics

Raffaella De Vita

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Assistant Professor

230 Norris Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540/2315905
devita@vt.edu

http://www.esm.vt.edu/~devita

Interests:

Continuum mechanics with emphasis on solid mechanics; Constitutive modeling of nonlinear elastic, viscoelastic, and liquid crystals biological systems; Cardiovascular mechanics, mechanics of ligaments and tendons, cellular mechanics

Education:

2005 PhD, Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
2003 MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
2000 Laurea, Mathematics, University of Naples II

Honors & Awards:

2006 American Society of Biomechanics President's Award
2000 Laurea cum laude

Recent Publications:

  1. Guo, Z., De Vita, R., Probabilistic Constitutive Law for Damage in Ligaments, Medical Engineering & Physics (to appear), 2009
  2. De Vita, R., Stewart, I. W., Influence of Weak Anchoring upon the Alignment of Smectic A Liquid Crystals with Surface Pretilt, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 20, 335101, 2008
  3. De Vita, R., Stewart, I. W., Leo, D. J., Pressure Effects on the Equilibrium Configurations of Bilayer Lipid Membranes, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical , 40, 13179-13196, 2007
  4. De Vita, R., Slaughter, W. S., A Constitutive Equation for the Failure Behavior of Medial Collateral Ligaments, Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 6(3), 189-197, 2007
  5. De Vita, R., Leo, D. J., Woo, K. D., Nah, C., A Constitutive Law for Poly(Butylene Terephthalate) Nanofibers Mats, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 102(6), 5280-5283, 2006
Full listing

CoursesTaught:

ESM 4234 Mech Bio Matls and Struct Fall 2009
ESM 5124 Theory of Elasticity Spring 2009
ESM 4234 Mechanics Bio Matls & Struct Fall 2008
ESM 5994 Research and Thesis Spring 2008
ESM 7994 Research and Dissertation Spring 2008
ESM 4234 Mechanics Bio Matls and Struct Fall 2007
ESM 5994 Research and Thesis Fall 2007
ESM 7994 Research and Dissertation Fall 2007
ESM 5124 Theory of Elasticity Spring 2007