Ryan S. Elliott is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN USA. He received a B.S. (1998) in Engineering Mechanics from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; a M.S.E. (1999) in Aerospace Engineering; a M.S. (2002) in Mathematics, and a Ph.D. (2004) in Aerospace Engineering and Scientific Computing, all from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has periodically held the position of Visiting Researcher at the Laboratoire de Mecanique des Solides (LMS) of The Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France.

Prof. Elliott's research program has three major themes: (I) development of nonlinear modeling of discrete and continuum solid-state materials and structures, capable of accurately predicting instability behavior and the associated multiple stable states of real systems; (II) development of analytical and computational methodologies (based on theories of symmetry, bifurcation, and pattern formation) that combine applied mathematics and scientific computing to systematically discover the multiple stable states predicted by a given nonlinear model; and (III) development of open source scientific software, and the creation and support of user communities who benefit from these software packages. The specific research projects pursued by Dr. Elliott and his research group each involve one or more of these major themes which serve as common threads connecting them all.