Rate My Professor Hilary Bart-Smith

Hilary Bart-Smith is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, joining the faculty in the fall of 2002. She earned a B.Eng. (1st Class) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Glasgow in 1995, an S.M. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University in 1997, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University in 2000. Prior to UVA, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Princeton Materials Institute from 2000 to 2002. At UVA, she advanced from Assistant Professor (2002-2007) to Associate Professor (2007 onward) and founded the Multifunctional Materials and Structures Laboratory and the Bio-inspired Engineering Research Laboratory. Her research focuses on bio-inspired engineering, including biomechanics of batoid rays for underwater propulsion, development of the Tunabot robotic fish, tensegrity-based morphing structures, lightweight lattice truss materials for load-bearing and impact applications, electroactive polymers as artificial muscles, and deployable space structures. She has secured over $10 million in funding, leading projects such as a $3.5 million ARPA-E award for bio-inspired renewable energy systems and Multi-University Research Initiative efforts on robotic manta rays.

Bart-Smith has earned prestigious awards, including the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering (2003), NSF CAREER Award (2003) for biologically inspired morphing structures, ASEE Frontiers in Education New Faculty Fellow (2003), University of Virginia Teaching Fellow (2003-2004), and the 2025 University of Virginia Research Collaboration Award for 17 years of work with colleagues on bio-inspired underwater robotics, yielding over 100 publications and $28 million in grants. Key publications include 'Experimental analysis of deformation mechanisms in a closed-cell aluminum alloy foam' (Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2000), 'Efficiency of Underwater Flight in the Manta' (Aerospace, 2016), and 'Tuna robotics: hydrodynamics of rapid linear accelerations' (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2021). Her scholarship, with over 5,600 citations, advances efficient, maneuverable underwater vehicles surpassing propeller-based designs.