Ronald (Ron) Gibson completed his Ph.D. in Mechanics in the AEM Department in 1975 under the guidance of Dr. Robert Plunkett. After a long and satisfying career, Ron is now working on his “second retirement” as an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, following his “first retirement” from the ME Department at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Along the way, he served as a Development Engineer for the Nuclear Division of Union Carbide Corporation, a full time faculty member at Iowa State University, The University of Idaho, and Wayne State University, and a visiting professor at Stanford University, the University of Florida and Michigan State University. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Society for Composites (ASC), and the Society for Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE). He also served at different times as Vice President and President of ASC. His publications include the textbook Principles of Composite Material Mechanics, Fourth Edition, CRC Press, 2016, along with more than 100 refereed journal articles and 180 conference proceedings papers. His research interests include analytical and experimental mechanics of composite materials and structures. He is especially proud of the MS and Ph.D. students that he has mentored, and the generous research support he has received from industry and government.

Ron and his wife Maryanne currently enjoy the semi-retired lifestyle in Reno, Nevada, in the shadow of the scenic Sierra Nevada Mountains. Their daughter Tracy Marts, along with her husband Tola and grandkids Sophie and Aidan all live in Issaquah, Washington, an eastern suburb of Seattle.