Philip V. Bayly, Ph.D., was installed as the first Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor in Engineering March 8 in Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering.
Before passing away in 2001, Lilyan Hughes established the professorship because, as she once said, her late husband would have wanted it. Elmer Lisle Hughes Jr. died in 1991.
“Although both Lilyan and Lisle Hughes are no longer with us, they will be long-remembered for their tremendous generosity to Washington University,” Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said. “Through this professorship, they have ensured that future generations of students will benefit from the extraordinary scholarship and teaching of outstanding faculty members.”
Christopher I. Byrnes, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the Edward H. and Florence G. Skinner Professor of Systems Science and Mathematics, concurred.
“We are deeply honored by this wonderful gesture, and we are very grateful for the opportunity to create a lasting remembrance for a distinguished alumnus,” Byrnes said. “I am also delighted that Philip Bayly is the initial holder of the Hughes professorship. As a distinguished faculty member in mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, he will bring added distinction to the title.”
Bayly has taught at WUSTL since 1993 and holds a joint appointment in the School of Engineering & Applied Science’s departments of Mechanical Engineering and of Biomedical Engineering. He has also worked as a research engineer for Shriners Hospital, designing prosthetic and orthotic devices for children with limb deficiencies and disabilities, and as a design engineer for Pitney-Bowes Inc.
His research, though quite varied in function and scope, involves the study of dynamics in mechanical and biomedical systems. Working with colleagues across the University, Bayly has conducted research on projects ranging from high-speed machining to measuring deformation of the human brain.
Bayly has received a number of teaching honors, including the School of Engineering & Applied Science Professor of the Year in 2004 and the Adviser of the Year in 2001. Graduate students gave him the “Big Fish” award in 2001 for mentoring.
In addition, Bayly received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation in 1996.
He serves as associate editor of the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. Among his professional associations are the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Biomedical Engineering Society.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree from Brown University and a doctorate from Duke University.
Like his father, Lisle Hughes earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University (father in 1917; son in 1943). He served on the USS Biloxi during World War II, and then earned a degree in naval architecture from the University of Michigan in 1946.
A year later he joined his father’s Kansas City business, Hughes Machinery Co. He ran the steam generator and power plant machinery manufacturer until his retirement.
Before marrying Hughes, Lilyan worked for TWA.
Among her hobbies were raising registered poodles, sailing and golfing.