Department Professor Honored by University
August 17, 2005

University of Evansville professors John R. Lakey and David J. Unger were honored on Tuesday, August 16 with the Sadelle and Sydney Berger Awards for service and scholarly activity.

Unger, associate professor of mechanical and civil engineering, was honored for his scholarly activity. Unger is a recognized expert in the field of theoretical fracture mechanics and has published extensively in this area, including a textbook, Analytical Fracture Mechanics.

He received the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Grant for work on moving boundary value problems in environmental cracking phenomena. Unger has found analytically a plane stress, perfectly plastic solution for a Mode I crack problem. Unger has also obtained the first analytical solution to a Mode I elastoplastic fracture mechanics problem, developed a decohesion model of hydrogen embrittlement, and solved analytically a true moving boundry valve problem.

He is responsible for the Materials Science and Materials Testing Laboratories in Koch Center for Engineering and Science at UE. He also helped organize the recent Midwest Undergraduate Private Engineering College conference held at the University. He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Unger received his Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics and his M.S. degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from St. Louis University.

The Berger Awards are presented annually in memory of Sadelle and Sydney Berger. Sadelle was a UE graduate and life-long member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at UE. Sydney was a well-known local attorney. Both dedicated their lives to public service. The Berger family established the endowment to give recognition to faculty at the University of Evansville.