Professor Beltz's teaching and research interests are in ceramic composite design, solid mechanics applied to materials problems (with an emphasis on the physics and mechanics of crystalline defects such as dislocations and quantum dots), and aeronautics. He received a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and subsequently M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science at Harvard. Beltz conducted postdoctoral work at Brown University in Providence and the Max-Planck-Institut in Stuttgart before coming to Santa Barbara. He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and serves as the faculty advisor for the ASME student section and the Engineering Student Council.

Teaching:

Professor Beltz typically teaches ME 14 "Statics," ME 15 "Strength of Materials," ME 230 "Elasticity," INT 94BW "Intro to Aviation & Space Technology," and ENGR 10H "Honors Seminar;" he collaborates with Professor Evans on ME 156A "Mechanical Engineering Design."