• Chair, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Structural Engineering

Peters

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• Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University
• S.M. in Applied Mechanics at Washington University
• Sc.B. in Applied Mechanics at Washington University

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Lefties have the edge Baseball's southpaws play to their strength July 7, 2008 -- Baseball diamonds are a left-hander's best friend. That's because the game was designed to make a lefty the "Natural," according to David A. Peters, Ph.D., the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and über baseball fan. Peters is a mechanical engineer who specializes in aircraft and helicopter engineering and has a different approach to viewing America's Favorite Pastime.

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Clips:

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Head-First Slide a Heads-Up Play The Washington Post and 6 others Oct. 21, 2008 -- As base runners weigh whether to slide head first or feet first during Wednesday's first game of the World Series, they might want to talk to a physicist instead of a coach. WUSTL mechanical engineering professor David Peters explains that the effectiveness of either approach is closely tied to the principles of physics and factors like a baseball player's center of gravity.

Batter Up: Shattering Sticks Create Peril in MLB Ballparks Scientific American July 15, 2008 -- This season, an alarming number of baseball bats have been exploding on contact with pitches -- shooting sharp timber projectiles onto the field and into the stands, where they have struck coaches, fans, players and umpires -- prompting players and management to call for testing that will get to the root of the problem. One theory blames the increased use of maple wood instead of more traditional ash and the players' preference for bats with thinner handles. WUSTL engineering professor Dave Peters comments.

Baseball is built for lefties Associated Press and 55 others July 10, 2008 -- Peters is a WUSTL engineering professor who happens to be a baseball nut. He looked at baseball from an engineer's perspective and determined that southpaws have a decided advantage. "Ninety percent of the human population is right-handed, but in baseball 25 percent of the players, both pitchers and hitters, are left-handed," Peters said.

Peters received bachelor's and master's degrees in applied mechanics at the University in 1969 and 1970, respectively. He worked for McDonnell Astronautics Co. in St. Louis, working on several space vehicles, including NASA's Skylab. He also worked as a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California. He received a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University in 1974 and returned to Washington University in 1975 to begin his academic career as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, working up through the ranks and becoming department chair in 1982. In 1985, Peters joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as professor of aerospace engineering in the Center of Excellence for Rotorcraft Technology. He became associate director of the center and the founding director of the Georgia Space Grant Consortium, a NASA-funded center. He returned to Washington University as a professor of mechanical engineering in 1991, becoming director of the Center for Computational Mechanics in 1992 and then, once again, department chair in 1997. He remains an adjunct professor at Georgia Tech and associate director of their rotorcraft center.