Vipin Kumar, Ph.D., P.E.


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Associate Professor
UW Microcellular Consortium Director
Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Washington
Box 352600
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 543-5535
vkumar@u.wasington.edu


Education

• B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India,1970
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, USA, 1972
• M.B.A. , University of Rhode Island, USA, 1974
• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 1988

Awards and Honors

• Elected Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers, May 2002.
• Boeing-Welliver Faculty Fellow, 1997.
• Received the Best Paper Award in 1991 from the Thermoplastic Materials and Foams Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) for our paper on Synthesis of microcellular polycarbonate. My graduate student John Weller was a co-recipient of this award.
• Again in 1995, received best paper award at the same conference for our paper on Semi-Continuous production of microcellular foam sheets. Hank Schirmer of BBS corporation was co-recipient of this award.
• Govt. of India Merit Scholar for undergraduate studies, 1965-70.
• Nominated for best teacher in ME in 2006.
• Nominated for UW Best Graduate Mentor Award 2006.

Career History

• 1988 – Present: Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington,seattle
• 1984 – 1988: Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• 1975 – 1984: Held several positions at the ITT Grinnell Corporation as follows:
         1982 – 1984: Engineering Manager; annual budget of $2M)
         1980 – 1982: Engineering Supervisor
         1975 – 1982: Member of Technical Staff

Selected Publications

    1. Kumar V., Juntunen, R.P., and Barlow, C., “Impact Strength of High Relative Density Solid State Carbon Dioxide Blown Crystallizable Poly(ethylene teraphthalate) Microcellular Foams”, Cellular Polymers, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2000, pp25-38.

    2. Armstrong, W.D., and Kumar, V., “A Discrete Complex Compliance Spectra Model of the Nonlinear Viscoelastic Creep and Recovery of Microcellular Polymers”, Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol. 38, 2000, 691-697.

    3. Juntunen, R.P., Kumar, V., Weller, J.E., and Bezubic, W.R., “Impact Strength of High Density Microcellular PVC Foams”, Journal of Vinyl and Additive Technology, Vol. 6, No. 2, June 2000, 93-99.

    4. Ross E. Murray, John E. Weller, and Vipin Kumar, "Solid-State Microcellular Acrylonitrile-Butadyne-Styrene Foams", Cellular Polymers, Vol. 19, No. 6, 2000, 413-426.

    5. Armstrong, W. D. and Kumar, V., 2000, "A Stress And Relative Density Dependent Dynamic Compliance Spectra Model Of The Creep Response Of Microcellular Polycarbonate", Journal of Applied Mechanics, 67:663-666.

    6. Holl, M.R., Garbini, J., Murray, W.R., and Kumar, V., "A Steady-State Mass Balance Model of the Polycarbonate-CO2 System Reveals a Self-Regulating Cell Growth Mechanism in the Solid-State Microcellular Process", Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Volume 39, Number 8, April 2001, 868-880.

    7. Barlow, C.C., Kumar, V., Flinn, B., Bordia, R.K., and Weller, J.E., “Impact Strength of High Density Microcellular Polycarbonate Foams”, ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, April 2001, Vol. 123, 229-233.

    8. Huang, P.Y.H., Reinhall, P.G., Shen, I.Y., and Kumar, V., “Use of Microcellular Foam Materials in Constrained Layer Damping Treatments”, Cellular Polymers, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2001, 101-114

    9. Li, W., Nadella, K., and Kumar, V., “Manufacturing of Micro-scale Open-cell Polymeric Foams using the Solid-State Foaming Process,” Transactions of NAMRI/SME, Vol. 31, 2003, pp. 371-378.

    10. Schirmer, H.G. and V.Kumar, "Novel Reduced-Density Materials by Solid-State Extrusion:Proof-of-Concept Experiments”,Cellular Polymers, Vol.22,No.3, 2003,157-174.

    11. Singh, L., Vipin Kumar, and Buddy D. Ratner, “Generation of Porous Microcellular 85/15 Poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) Foams for Biomedical Applications”, Biomaterials, V 25, No. 13, June 2004, 2611-2617.

    12. Kumar, V., Nadella, K, Branch, G., and Flinn, B., "Extrusion of Microcellular Foams Using Pre-Saturated Pellets and Solid-State Nucleation", Cellular Polymers, Vol. 23, No. 6, 2004, 369-385.

    13. Kumar, V., "Phenomenology of bubble nucleation in the solid-state nitrogen-polystyrene system", Colloids and Surfaces, A: Physiochem. And Eng. Asp. 263 (2005) 336-340.

    14. Nadella, K., Kumar, V., and Li, W., 2005, “Constrained Solid-State Foaming of Microcellular Panels”, Cellular Polymers, Vol. 24, No. 2, 71-90

    15. Sarno, E., Kumar, V., and Li, W., "A Hybrid Methodology for Enhancing Reliability of Large Systems in Conceptual Design and its Application to the Design of a Multiphase Flow Station", Research in Engineering Design, (2005) Vol. 16, 27-41.

    16. Pasricha, Arun, Gregory Wing, Vipin Kumar, and Mark Tuttle, "Effect of CO2 Sorption and Desorption on the Creep Response of Polycarbonate", Poly.Eng.and Sc., Vol. 45 No. 12 (2005), 1639-1644.

    17. Wang, X., Li, W., and Kumar, V., “A method for solvent-free fabrication of porous polymer using solid-state foaming and ultrasound for tissue engineering applications”, Biomaterials, Vol. 27 (2006), 1924-1929.