Samantha Daly

Biography

Sam Daly is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech in 2007 and 2002 respectively, and subsequently joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, where she was on the faculty until 2016 prior to her move to UCSB.

Research

The Daly group specializes in the integration of machine learning with experimental mechanics and materials science to characterize, design, and develop advanced materials. The group investigates the mechanics of materials, fatigue, fracture, creep, composites, multi-functional materials, and advanced experimental techniques with a focus on novel experimental and data-driven approaches for the characterization of processing – structure – property relationships.

Mentoring Priorities

"My mentoring priorities include building confidence in taking initiative and pursuing independent research, in an inclusive and supportive environment. We conduct collaborative, hypothesis driven, and interdisciplinary research. Graduate students learn how to make hypotheses and plan experiments/computation/analyses; execute their plans and troubleshoot; and communicate their findings in both oral and written form."