Dr. Paul A. Lagace is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the director of the Technology Laboratory for Advanced Composites. He graduated from M.I.T. in 1978 with an S.B. in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also pursued his graduate education at M.I.T. in Aeronautics and Astronautics earning his S.M. in 1979 and his Ph.D. in 1982.
Since joining the faculty in 1982, Professor Lagace has conducted research in the areas of mechanics, fracture, longevity, damage resistance, and damage tolerance of composite materials and their structures. The work has an experimental orientation, but development of analytical tools has also been pursued with a particular objective of developing efficient analytical methodologies which are useful in performing parametric studies early in the design process. He has published widely on these topics and on general topics related to composite materials and their structures.
Professor Lagace has taught courses in the areas of mechanics of materials and structures with special emphasis on composite materials and their structures and has developed courses dealing with manufacturing with composite materials and advanced topics in composite materials and structures. With James Mar, he developed the video course series "Composite Materials". He has received a departmental teaching award and an Institute award for excellence in undergraduate teaching. He is a member of a number of societies, an associate fellow of the AIAA, and is currently the president of the International Committee on Composite Materials. In addition, he serves on a number of governmental committees and as a consultant to industry. He recently served as Executive Officer and Acting Department Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In his spare time, he is a local high school football offical and an ardent sports fan, best known for his support of the Boston Red Sox.
