Teaching

Professor Gibson taught two subjects at MIT: 3.032 Mechanical Behavior of Materials, a required subject for the undergraduate DMSE major and 3.054 Cellular Solids: Structure, Properties and Applications, an upper level undergraduate/graduate subject. Both subjects are also offered online, through edX, as 3.032x and 3.054x.

Professor Gibson has previously taught undergraduate subjects on structural engineering and fluid mechanics, a graduate subject on mechanical behavior of materials and freshman seminars on topics ranging from the development of structural forms over millenia to engineering principles in birds and trees to biomimicking.

Working with MITx, MIT's online education initiative, Professor Gibson has produced two videos aimed at a broader, more general audience. One is on Robert Hooke's book Micrographia, from 1665, one of the first books to show illustrations of objects as seen through a microscope. And the other is on woodpeckers and how they avoid brain injury when they peck. Read more on our Video page.

Teaching Awards

  • Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching (for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education in the School of Engineering)
  • MacVicar Faculty Fellow (MIT's highest award for undergraduate teaching)
  • Teaching with Digital Technology Award (MIT)
  • Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching (MIT School of Engineering)
  • Department Teaching Award (MIT Civil Engineering)

"How I Became a Professor at MIT" Series

"I believe that students are interested to know more about their professors and the choices made on the way to becoming professors. At the end of each term, I give a talk on how I became a Professor at MIT. In the Fall 2015 term, I invited several colleagues to tell their stories."

Videos of their talks can be found here and are also listed below.

Outreach Talks

Woodpecker pecking: How woodpeckers avoid brain injury

  • Massachusetts Audubon Society
  • Essex County Ornithological Club
  • MIT Museum
  • Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
  • Boston Latin School physics class

Tree Mobs for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

  • Woods in colonial shipbuilding
  • Cattails: How they stand so tall
  • Building with bamboo