Faculty Directory

I started my career at the University of Maryland/College Park as Assistant Professor of ME in 1972.  I was promoted to Associate Professor of ME in 1976, and to Professor of ME in 1986. 

I retired as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland/College Park in July 1998 and I was subsequently appointed to the position of Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering.

• Applications of metal cutting to mechanical energy absorbers (aka. "Mechanical Fuse")
• Magnetically suspended flywheels for energy storage.

• Kirk, J.A., "Flywheel Energy Storage Part I ‑ Basic Concepts", Int. J. of Mech. Science, Vol. 19, No. 4, 1977, pgs. 223‑231.
• Kirk, J.A., "Flywheel Energy Storage Part II ‑ Magnetically Suspended Superflywheel", Int. J. of Mech. Science, Vol. 19, No. 4, 1977, pgs. 233‑245 (with P.A. Studer).
• Kirk, J.A., "Design of a Metal Skinning Energy Absorber for the U.S. Capitol Subway System", Int. J. of Mech. Science, Vol. 19, No. 10, 1977, pgs. 595‑602.
• Kirk, J.A., "Metal Cutting Energy Absorbers", Machine Design, March 10, 1977, pgs. 84‑85 (with J.W. Gay).
• Kirk, J.A., "Mechanical Energy Absorbers and Aluminum Honeycomb", Trans. ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 104, No. 3, July 1982, pgs. 671‑674.
• Higgins, M.A., Plant, D.P., Ries, D.M., Kirk, J.A., and Anand, D.K., "Flywheel Energy Storage for Electric Utility Load Leveling," Proceedings of the 26th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, August 4-9, 1991, Boston, Massachusetts, pgs. 209-214.
• Wells, S.P., Pang, D.C., and Kirk, J. A., “The Design, Manufacture, and Testing of a Composite Flywheel for Energy Storage”, Mechanics in Materials Processing and Manufacturing, ASME Publication AMD-Vol. 194, pgs. 397-404, November 1994.