BSME 1985, UMR
MSME 1987, Washington University
PhD Engineering Science 1990, Penn State University

Scott White was the Donald B. Willett Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After obtaining his BSME from UMR in 1985, he continued to obtain his MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University, his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Penn State University, and then joined the Illinois faculty in 1990. Prof. White was a visionary researcher in composite materials and was instrumental in creating the field of self-healing materials. He established the Autonomous Materials System group at the Beckman Institute, bringing together students and faculty from a range of disciplines to develop new materials with biologically inspired functions. 

In recognition of his research contributions Professor White and his team were honored as a finalist for the 2001 Tech Award recognizing outstanding contributions in technology from the Tech Museum of Innovation (San Jose, CA). Popular Science acknowledged his work on self-healing materials as one of the Top Ten Scientific Innovations for 2001. Scientific American also recognized his work in microvascular systems with the SciAm 50 prize in 2007. In 2012, his work on mechanophores was cited by Popular Science as one of the Top Ten Concepts to Know for 2011. Professor White has also received numerous honors and awards, including the Bepi Colombo Prize Finalist (2009), a Humboldt Research Award (2013), the American Society of Composites, Outstanding Research Award (2014), the Society of Experimental Mechanics, M. Hetényi Award (2016) and the Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award (2016). He was a Fellow of the American Society for Composites and the Society of Engineering Science.

With over 20 patents, his internationally recognized research had a significant impact on both the academic community and the commercial sector. Prof. White founded Autonomic Materials Incorporated (AMI), a start-up company focused on developing self-healing coatings. He was also a founding partner of CU Aerospace, LLC, a research and development company based in Champaign, IL.

Prof. White passed away on May 28, 2018, after a long battle with ocular melanoma. He is survived by his wife, Prof. Nancy Sottos, his three children (all engineers), and two grandchildren.