J. R. Barber graduated in Mechanical Sciences from Cambridge University in 1963 and joined British Rail, who later sponsored his research at Cambridge between 1965 and 1968 on the subject of thermal effects in braking systems. In 1969 he became Lecturer and later Reader in Solid Mechanics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1981 he moved to the University of Michigan, where he is presently Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Professor of Engineering and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He is a Chartered Engineer in the U.K., Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and has engaged extensively in consulting work in the field of stress analysis for engineering design.
