The time is right

Fresh off attending the National Academy of Engineering’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., and just days before he was due to visit Cambridge University, his undergraduate alma mater in the UK, David Hibbitt PhD’72, PMAT’96 spoke easily about his ties to and contributions on behalf of Brown.

“This past weekend, I was at a forum on the grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century: 14 topics like clean water and sustainable energy sources. Every day, engineers help solve problems like these in the human community. And that is what is happening at Brown. The School of Engineering will always be a small school, but it has the ingredients to be world-class. It has chosen where it will concentrate its energies. It is building state-of-the-art research facilities, and it is engaged in attracting and keeping the very best people.

“I had a conversation with Dean Larry Larson about how best to support this top-ranked effort on the Brown scale—focused but with great quality. We chose post-docs—an invaluable resource. Because these scholars have finished a Ph.D., they know a subject technically in an intimate way. They have a wonderful window of time when they can conduct research without the distraction of everything that comes with being a junior faculty member. And it is a tremendous resource for established faculty who are trying to push the envelope in terms of what they want to accomplish. There is fierce competition for the best post-docs. Susan and I trust that our contribution will give Dean Larson the leverage to bring in two or three of them a year during the next decade, to help strengthen the research program.

“I came to Brown as a graduate student in the 1960s. My advisor in Cambridge, knowing that I was interested in solid mechanics - studying how solid bodies behave under stress - told me that Brown University had the best program in that discipline in the United States.  He was right. It still does. As the 'grand challenges' well exemplify, world-class research and teaching in engineering benefits all mankind. Brown engineering is going through a significant growth period; the next ten years is a critical phase in that evolution.”

H. David Hibbitt PhD’72, PMAT’96 was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in February 2013. Hibbitt, founder and retired chairman of ABAQUS Inc. (now known as Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp.), was honored for the creation and development of the ABAQUS finite element code for nonlinear structural analysis and its worldwide dissemination. This gift continues the support that he and his wife, Susan B. Hibbitt, a Brown alumna, have provided to the University.