Abstract: The field of engineering sciences has been developed in the early sixties when the continuum mechanics methodology (balance laws and constitutive equations) was extended to describe a variety of physical processes and phenomena. Earlier theories and models on deformation, heat and mass transfer, electromagnetics and optics have been generalized and reformulated within such a framework. Coupling effects have been accounted for and the influence of microstructure and defects on macroscopic response has been considered. The implications to advanced technology, including the manufacturing, aerospace and petrochemical industries has been enormous. More recently the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology is rapidly evolving. The ramifications of continuum mechanics to address mechanical, physicochemical, and biomedical phenomena at the nanoscale are discussed.

Brief biography of the speaker:
Elias C. Aifantis is a Professor of Mechanics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR. He is also a Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, US and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, SA. He has published about 500 papers with about 6000 citations and an h-index 40 (ISI). He is included in the ISI web of knowledge list of Most Highly Cited Authors in Engineering (3rd entry no A0086-2010-N out of 276). He has edited 12 books, organized numerous international conferences, and has been invited as keynote speaker on various occasions. He is Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Behavior of Materials (ISSN 0334-8938); Honorary Editor of Computer and Experimental Simulations in Engineering and Science (ISSN 1791-3829); and serves on the Advisory/Editorial Board of: Mechanical Sciences (ISSN 2191-9151), Open Mechanics Journal (ISSN 1874-1584), Reviews on Advanced Materials Science (ISSN 1605-8127), Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica (ISSN 0894-9166), Materials Physics and Mechanics (ISSN 1605-8119), Acta Mechanica (ISSN 0001-5970) (formerly), Journal of Nano Research (ISSN 1662-5250) (formerly), Mechanics of Cohesive-Frictional Materials (ISSN 1099-1484) (formerly), Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics (ISSN 106-222) (formerly), Mechanical Sciences (ISSN 2191-9151), Journal of Control Engineering and Technology (ISSN 2223-2036). Also in Materials Science, and Materials Sciences and Applications, currently being placed in Citation Index. About 20 of his PhD students and Postdocs hold academic positions in Europe, US, Russia and China. In June 2005 in the joint ASME/ASCE/SES Mechanics and Materials Conference in Baton Rouge, a Symposium was held honoring his contributions in gradient theory, dislocation patterning and material instabilities.