Dr. Ashley Spear is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah and the Director of the Multiscale Mechanics & Materials Laboratory. She specializes in 3D deformation, fatigue, and fracture in polycrystalline aluminum by coupling diffraction-based characterization with crystal-plastic finite-element modeling. She received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University, where she was a member of the Cornell Fracture Group and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She is a recent recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
