Vikram Deshpande
Professor of Materials Engineering, University of Cambridge
Vikram Deshpande obtained his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is currently professor of Materials Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He has also served on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Technical University of Eindhoven.
Vikram Deshpande is an engineer who specializes in materials engineering and is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. He specialises in developing mechanics-based models of sophisticated structural materials and of soft, active materials by combining theoretical understanding with insightful experiments to unravel complex phenomena. Examples his work range from dislocation-based modelling of crystalline materials, the development of new micro-architectured materials to the role of entropic forces in cell mechano-transduction.
His recognitions include the 2020 Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics, the 2022 Prager Medal, the 2022 ASME Koiter Medal, the 2024 Bazant Medal ASCE, the 2025 EUROMECH solid mechanics prize and the 2025 ASME Nadai Medal. He has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society London, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, Member of Academia Europaea, and an International Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE).