Dr. Saxena received a B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1970) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees (1972 and 1974, respectively) in Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering from University of Cincinnati. In 2003, He became the Dean of the College of Engineering and the Irma F. and Raymond C. Giffels’ Endowed Chair in Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Prior to that Dr. Saxena spent 18 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology as Professor (1985-2002), Regents Professor (2002-2003) and Chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering (1993-2002)
Dr. Saxena’s major industrial experience was at the Research and Development Center of Westinghouse Electric Co. in Pittsburgh, where he spent 8 years (1976-80 and 1981-1985) and rose to the position of Fellow Scientist in 1984. His other appointments include eighteen months at National Steel Co. R&D Center in Weirton, W. Virginia (1974-76).
As the Dean of Engineering, Dr. Saxena is responsible for a College that has seven departments offering 10 ABET accredited degree programs. A new Strategic Plan (http://www.engr.uark.edu/58.htm) was developed by the college faculty with a vision that calls for “becoming and being perceived as a top-tier engineering program in the country”.
During Dr. Saxena’s tenure as the Chair of School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Tech., the US News and World Report rankings of the materials program at Georgia Tech went from number 20 to 11 for the graduate program and 10 for the undergraduate program.
Dr. Saxena’s scholarly activities over the past 30+ years have been in a highly interdisciplinary field of mechanical behavior of materials with primary emphasis on fracture mechanics. He has worked extensively with graduate students, developed and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the field, written textbooks, and has engaged in very significant editorial work for journals and in support of international symposia and conferences. Dr. Saxena is internationally renowned for his contributions to the area Time-dependent Fracture Mechanics.
Dr. Saxena’s awards and recognitions include the Wohler Fatigue Medal (2010) from the European Structural Integrity Society, Fracture Mechanics Medal (2009) from ASTM International the George Irwin Medal (1992) from ASTM for his pioneering contributions to creep fracture mechanics, ASTM Award of Merit and Fellow (1994), Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture (2009), Fellow of ASM International (1996), Georgia Tech Outstanding Research Author Award (1993), SAIC awards for contributions as advisor to the best papers from M.S. theses research (1989, 1991, 1997), Sigma Xi Award for contributions as advisor to the best M.S. thesis (1995, 1997), best paper award at the Sixth International Conference on Fracture (1984, 2009) and others. Twenty students have received their Ph.D degrees and 19 others have received their M.S. degrees under Dr. Saxena’s guidance and 10 post-doctoral fellows have worked under his supervision.
Dr. Saxena has also provided engineering consulting services to several small and large corporations.