March 7, 2022
University Distinguished Professor Emeritus honored
University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Gary Cloud of Michigan State University has received two additional international recognitions for his diligent efforts and significant performance in service to the country’s mechanical engineering community.
The Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) presented Cloud with the 2022 C.E. Taylor Award, an honor granted for exemplary contributions to the field of optical methods and for ongoing leadership of the society.
The 2022 SEM award follows an international recognition bestowed in 2021. The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) named Cloud as a senior member – a distinction given for professional experience, active involvement with the optics community and SPIE, and significant performance that sets them apart from their peers.
"SPIE senior members are members honored for their scientific excellence across the broad spectrum of optics and photonics research and applications,” said the 2021 Senior Member Subcommittee Chair and U.S. Army Research Laboratory Essential Research Program Manager Dimitra Stratis-Cullum. “Their active involvement with the optics community and SPIE, and their significant performance distinguishes them from their peers.”
In 2020, Cloud was granted the singular honor of being named an Honorary Member of SEM. The Society’s definition of an Honorary Member is: “… an individual of widely recognized eminence in some field in which the Society has interest, and who has also rendered exceptional and sustained service to the Society.”
Cloud joined the MSU faculty in 1961 and now advises on and conducts research in the MSU Composite Vehicle Research Center, of which he was founding director. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and Chartered Physicist. He is also a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Mechanics and the Institute of Physics.
His research brings together optical and electronic techniques to solve problems in geomechanics, biomechanics, composites, fracture mechanics, fastening, nondestructive evaluation, and design. He has written extensively, including the book, Optical Methods of Engineering Measurement, and he holds five patents.
He also has served as the long-time adviser to MSU’s Formula Racing Team.
