Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Williams Is Appointed to Engineering Chair

PREMIER TEACHER
Williams Is Appointed To Engineering Chair
Professor James H. Williams Jr., frequently recognized in student course 
evaluation guides as one of MIT's premier teachers, has been appointed 
to the School of Engineering's Professorship in Teaching Excellence.
The professorship was established by an anonymous gift to recognize 
teaching excellence and to support educational program development. The 
appointment of Professor Williams for a five-year term was announced by 
Dean of Engineering Joel Moses, the Dugald Caleb Jackson Professor of 
Computer Science and Engineering. 
Professor Williams' contributions to undergraduate teaching have been 
formally recognized through a number of awards, including the Everett 
Moore Baker Award for "outstanding undergraduate teaching" (1973) and 
the inaugural J.P. Den Hartog Distinguished Educator Award in the 
Department of Mechanical Engineering (1981). Assessments by both 
students and colleagues have cited the intellectual rigor of his 
teaching, his lucid presentations, high expectations and excellent 
results. Also cited were his commitment to the professional and personal 
development of students and his counseling and tutoring outside of the 
classroom.
He served as the first faculty resident at New House from 1975-82.
Professor Williams is also known for his commitment to minority student 
development and to increasing the presence of minority faculty at MIT.
To focus awareness on the educational needs of minority students at MIT, 
Professor Williams attracted the attention of the national media as he 
sat and fasted at a small table outside the offices of the president and 
the provost each Wednesday in April.
Professor Williams, who joined the faculty in 1970, is currently the 
head of the Mechanics and Materials Division within the Department of 
Mechanical Engineering. He earned the SB (1967) and SM (1968) from MIT 
and the PhD (1970) from Trinity College, Cambridge University, England.
His research in the Composite Materials and Nondestructive Evaluation 
Laboratory, which he founded, has led to the analytical and experimental 
characterization of the stresses and fracture properties of fiber-
reinforced composites. His development of nondestructive methods to 
evaluate such materials, involving ultrasonics, acoustic emission and 
thermography, have earned him an international reputation. 
He is a member or fellow of several international professional 
societies.