4/8/2013 Written by Susan Mumm
Written by Written by Susan Mumm
Hilton started on the Urbana-Champaign campus in 1949, while working to earn his PhD. His plan was to study with Prof. Alfred Freudenthal, but Hilton was left to his own devices when Freudenthal left for Columbia University early in 1950. Hilton didn’t have the convenience of email and, in those days, one did not make long distance phone calls unless there was a major emergency. Standard mail was slow, and responses were not prompt. Nevertheless, Hilton finished his PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics with a minor in Mathematics in 1951. Subsequently, he was promoted to assistant professor of aeronautical engineering with the then-substantial annual raise of $400.
He was promoted to professor in 1957 and served as department head from 1974 to 1985. Hilton served the College of Engineering as an assistant dean during the 1989 and 1990 summers. He has taught every undergraduate AE course except propulsion to over 3,000 students. He also taught Computer Science 101 during the 1980s.
Retiring from Illinois in 1990, Hilton has remained active in research, graduate teaching and public and professional service.
He is the Senior Academic Lead for Structural/Solid Mechanics at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Hilton is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); a director of Sigma Gamma Tau, the national aerospace honorary society; and a member of two AIAA Technical Committees on Structures and on Nondeterministic Applications. He is on the Editorial Board of a book series entitled Advances in High-Performance Computing. Several large aerospace companies have used his services as a consultant and expert witness at aircraft accident trials.
Hilton was appointed the Charles E. Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Rotan from 1997 to 2002 and in 2007. He also serves as an external examiner at Nanyang University in Singapore.
He currently has two AE PhD thesis students and a research grant from the Boeing Co. administered through NCSA, where he holds a part-time appointment. He also continues his active membership in UIUC’s Faculty-Student Senate, in which he has served for many years on the academic freedom and tenure and the faculty governance committees.
Hilton is an internationally recognized authority in viscoelasticity and aero-viscoelasticity. He has published or had accepted for publication over 300 papers in archival journals or conference proceedings. Among his active analytical and computational research areas are:
• deterministic and stochastic linear and nonlinear viscoelasticity
• composites
• aero-viscoelasticity
• aerodynamic noise
• probabilistic failure criteria and analysis
• damping and nonlinear dynamics
• linear and nonlinear anisotropic viscoelastic finite element analysis
• optimum designer materials and systems
• piezoelectric, magnetic, and functionally graded viscoelastic materials
• electronic packaging
• nonlinear creep and delamination column and plate buckling
• analytical determination of damping properties
• material characterization
• stochastic minimum structural weight analysis
• probabilistic delamination of composites during service and manufacturing processes (cure)
• structural control and survivability
• engineering education
• structural integrity of dentures.
Hilton’s extensive public service includes membership on the board of directors of A Women’s Fund (a shelter for battered women) and chairmanship of the City of Champaign Human Relations Commission. He continues to serve on the Executive Committees of the local AAUP and ACLU chapters. In 2002, he received the ACLU Stone Award for Lifetime Commitment to Civil Liberties. Since 1964, he has been a democratic precinct committee person in Champaign.
In addition to his professional pursuits, Hilton has a full family life. He and his wife, Lois (Grimason), have between them seven children, 12 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. (His first wife, Joan Brachhausen, died in 1969).
Hilton said Lois is very supportive of all of his activities, which he plans to continue for a long time. The exchange that took place at his 1990 retirement dinner best describes his past and future. Emcee Prof. John Prussing asked him then, “So Harry, now that you are retired, are you going to go away quietly?”
Hilton’s reply? “No, I will not be quiet and I will not go away.”