sustained EB-1A Case: Applied Mechanics And Composite Materials

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
20 Mass. Ave., N.W., Rm. A3042 
FILE: 
LIN 03 227 50086 
Washington, DC 20529 
Office: NEBRASKA SERVICE CENTER Date: 2 4 ?om 
PETITION: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability Pursuant to Section 
203(b)(l)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 9 I 153(b)(l)(A) 
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: 
SELF-REPRESENTED 
INSTRUCTIONS: 
This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Off~ce in your case. All documents have been returned to 
the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office. 
b Robert P. Wiernann, Director 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DISCUSSION: The employment-based immigrant visa petition was denied by the Director, Nebraska 
Service Center, and is now before the Administrative Appeals Office on appeal. The appeal will be sustained 
and the petition will be approved. 
The petitioner seeks classification as an employment-based immigrant pursuant to section 203(b)(l)(A) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. 5 1153(b)(l)(A), as an alien of extraordinary ability in 
the sciences. The director determined the petitioner had not established the sustained national or international 
acclaim necessary to qualify for classification as an alien of extraordinary ability. 
Section 203(b) of the Act states, in pertinent part, that: 
(1) Priority Workers. -- Visas shall first be made available . . . to qualified immigrants who are aliens 
described in any of the following subparagraphs (A) through (C): 
(A) Aliens with Extraordinary Ability. -- An alien is described in this subparagraph if -- 
(i) the alien has extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or 
athletics which has been demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim 
and whose achievements have been recognized in the field through extensive 
documentation, 
(ii) the alien seeks to enter the United States to continue work in the area of 
extraordinary ability, and 
(iii) the alien's entry to the United States will substantially benefit prospectively the 
United States. 
As used in this section, the term "extraordinary ability" means a level of expertise indicating that the 
individual is one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor. 8 C.F.R. 
5 204.5(h)(2). The specific requirements for supporting documents to establish that an alien has sustained 
national or international acclaim and recognition in his or her field of expertise are set forth in the regulation 
at 8 C.F.R. 5 204.5(h)(3). The relevant criteria will be addressed below. It should be reiterated, however, that 
the petitioner must show that he has earned sustained national or international acclaim at the very top level. 
This petition, filed on July 18, 2003, seeks to classify the petitioner as an alien with extraordinary ability as a 
researcher in the field of applied mechanics and composite materials. At the time of filing, the petitioner was 
employed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Kansas 
State University. 
The regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3) indicates that an alien can establish sustained national or 
international acclaim through evidence of a one-time achievement (that is, a major, international recognized 
award). Barring the alien's receipt of such an award, the regulation outlines ten criteria, at least three of which 
must be satisfied for an alien to establish the sustained acclaim necessary to qualify as an alien of 
extraordinary ability. We find that the petitioner's evidence satisfies the following three criteria. 
Evidence of the alien's participation, either individually or on a panel, as a judge of the work of 
others in the same or an alliedJield of specification for which classiJication is sought. 
The petitioner submitted evidence showing that he reviewed two proposals for the National Materials 
Advisory Board, U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The petitioner also 
submitted evidence showing that he was invited multiple times to serve as a panelist to review proposals 
submitted to the National Science Foundation. In addition, the petitioner provided correspondence and e- 
mails showing that he reviewed academic textbooks published by McGraw-Hill and John Wiley and Sons. 
The petitioner also reviewed a proposal for the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. In this 
case, the petitioner has received multiple requests for his expertise as a reviewer from a wide variety of 
sources. When taken as a whole, we find that the evidence presented is adequate to satisfy this criterion. 
Evidence of the alien's original scientijic, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related 
contributions of major signijicance in theJield. 
The petitioner provided several witness letters in support of the petition. We cite representative examples 
here. 
Dr. James Williams, School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Excellence and Professor of Applied 
Mechanics in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, states: 
[The petitioner] developed an exact solution for elastic waves scattered by a large number of 
scatterers, often called a multiple-scattering problem. Scattering is a common phenomenon when a 
wave, such as light, electromagnetism or sound, encounters an obstacle in its path of propagation; the 
wave reflects in all directions, known as scattering. . . . [The petitioner's] analytical capability has 
enabled him to develop a mathematically rigorous solution for such a complicated problem that has 
remained unsolved by the research community for decades. 
Based on this solution, [the petitioner] developed an elegant methodology called scatterer 
polymerization that extends the capability of the multiple-scatterer solution. . . . This development 
broke the barrier of computer memory limitation and became the enabling technology that unlocked 
the door to large-scale simulations of wave phenomena. 
[The petitioner] subsequently utilized his theoretical accomplishments and developed a 
computational system that is capable of analyzing the wave scattering phenomena involving 
thousands of scatterers using a typical desktop computer. The most remarkable feature about his 
computational system is that the simulations produced by his methodology are in fact analytically 
exact solutions to such unimaginably complicated problems. I am aware of no prior system that is 
Page 4 
close to such capability and accuracy. Furthermore, through his extensive large-scale simulations, an 
exciting new wave phenomenon was independently discovered, leading to a new area of material 
research called phononic materials. 
Dr. Y. Jack Weitsman, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical 
Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, states: 
[The petitioner's] main research area is wave propagation phenomena in complex systems, with 
emphasis on fiber-reinforced composite materials. The objective of his research is to develop new 
techniques that can quantitatively characterize the internal structural of these highly important 
materials. However, his achievement reaches far beyond that. [The petitioner] has developed a 
computational system that is capable of performing full-scale "deterministic" simulations of the wave 
propagation process in a fiber-reinforced composite sample that contains thousands of fibers. The 
phrase "deterministic" means that the physical and geometrical features of each fiber are considered 
in full detail regardless of the total number of fibers contained within the composite material. This 
computational methodology, a significant achievement by itself, is the combined result of two other 
significant theoretical accomplishments: 
1. [The petitioner] developed a theory that provides an exact solution to the most general case of 
the wave scattering problem, involving an arbitrary number of scatterers in a two dimensional 
space; 
2. [The petitioner] developed a truly ingenious scheme to construct the so-called abstract 
scatterers, which consist of an arbitrary number of real scatterers, thereby overcoming the 
computational barrier imposed by restricted computer memory available for the analysis of 
such a highly complex problem. 
To my knowledge, such a large-scale simulation has never been possible before, and [the petitioner's] 
accomplishment is certain to advance the research of many investigators in several fields, including 
composite materials. 
Youqui Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Kansas State 
University, states: 
Reinforced plastics, a traditional form of composite material, have become widely deployed in 
mission-critical structural components since the 70's. Diagnosing and servicing these aging structural 
components has become an urgent technical challenge. The research [the petitioner] conducted 
addressed this challenge. He first developed a technique that employs thermography to quantitatively 
characterize foreign inclusions in polymeric composite sandwich panels. This work is based on the 
very simple idea that internal structure could be revealed by surface temperature distribution when the 
structure is uniformly heated. This work is a prime example of [the petitioner's] ability to bring 
enormous insight through rigorous mathematical analysis to some very simple ideas, leading to 
significant scientific discoveries. Afterwards, [the petitioner] took on the even more challenging task 
of developing a technique that can detect hidden delamination (cracks) between layers of sandwich 
panels. It was more of a challenge because delamination might not cause significant temperature 
Page 5 
change, nor become visible. To address this issue, [the petitioner] used ultrasonic techniques, which is 
more sensitive to cracks. Through his analysis of the wave propagation process in multiple-layered 
panels, [the petitioner] was able to identify some traits in the detectable signals and precisely locate 
the site of the delamination. This work has resulted in a series of publications in one of the industries 
[sic] leading publications Materials Evaluation (2001, 2002,2003 j, as a guide to industry. 
Dr. Raymond Nagem, Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, 
asserts that the petitioner's "scatterer polymerization methodology is a major advance in the practical 
implementation of large-scale simulations involving thousands of scatterers." 
Dr. Wei Tong, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, states: 
[The petitioner] established exact solutions of general wave scattering problems and developed a 
methodology called scatterer polymerization that further extends the capability of a solution he 
developed earlier. Furthermore he utilized his theoretical developments to conduct full-scale 
simulations of wave stop-band phenomenon in fiber reinforced composite materials. [The petitioner] 
was among the first to report the finding of the stop-band phenomenon (now commonly called band 
gap phenomenon) in composite materials. These original and highly insightful findings by [the 
petitioner] have placed him at the cutting edge of a whole new research area of photonic and 
phononic materials that span many disciplines such as acoustics, oceanography, as well as 
electromagnetic waves. 
Cleo Neal, Manufacturing Engineer, Raytheon Aircraft Company, describes the petitioner as "a leading expert 
in various nondestructive testing (NDTj techniques, including ultrasonic and thermographic methods." 
Dr. H. N. Hashemi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University, states: 
[The petitioner] developed a thermographic technique to detect the foreign inclusions in sandwich 
panels. . . . The significance of [the petitioner's] test procedure is that it can not only quantitatively 
determine the material properties of the inclusion so that the exact material can be identified, but also 
pin-point the exact location of the inclusion within the structure. His work extends the thermography 
beyond its traditional qualitative regime to a new quantitative regime. 
In the late 1980's [the petitioner] proposed a criterion to predict material failure and crack growth 
direction in composite materials. His criterion, which was later proven . . . by his colleagues and 
other researchers around the world, has become one of the indispensable tools in understanding the 
fracture and fatigue behaviors in composite materials. 
Dr. Bingmei Fu, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, 
states: 
Page 6 
[The petitioner's] extraordinary contribution to this field includes two theoretical developments, 
namely the multiple-scattering theory, and the scatterer polymerization methodology, and a large- 
scale deterministic simulation system. His multiple scattering theory offers the exact solution for the 
wave scattering by any numbers of scatterers, an unimaginable complicated system that no one had 
thought solvable before. His scatterer polymerization methodology helped reduced the problem size 
to be manageable by a regular computer yet maintains the mathematical rigor of the multiple 
scattering theory. With the combination of these theoretical developments, [the petitioner] developed 
a computational system that can perform simulations of wave scattering process by thousands of 
scatterers in the deterministic manner . . . . 
The record includes additional letters of support from researchers at the University of Delaware, the Chinese 
Academy of Sciences, and Intel Corporation. 
The petitioner also submitted copies of numerous journal articles that cite his published findings. The large 
number of citations presented by the petitioner shows that many other researchers have acknowledged his 
influence and found his work to be significant. Such evidence bolsters the witnesses' claims that the 
petitioner's findings are of major significance in the field of applied mechanics and composite materials. 
In this case, the record adequately demonstrates the petitioner's contributions are important not only to the 
research institutions where he has worked, but throughout the greater field. Scientific experts from 
throughout the United States have acknowledged the value of the petitioner's work and its significance to the 
greater scientific community. Therefore, we find that the evidence presented is adequate to satisfy this 
criterion. 
Evidence of the alien's authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional or major trade 
publications or other major media. 
The petitioner submitted evidence of his authorship of several articles appearing in publications such as 
Materials Evaluation, Ultrasonics, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, and the Journal of Composite 
Materials. In addition, the petitioner co-authored two books published in China. 
As noted previously, the petitioner submitted evidence showing that his published articles are widely cited. 
When judging the influence and impact that the petitioner's published work has had, the very act of 
publication is not as reliable a gauge as is the citation history of the published works. Publication alone may 
serve as evidence of originality, but it is difficult to conclude that a published article is important or 
influential if there is little evidence that other researchers have relied upon the petitioner's findings. In this 
case, however, the large number of cites to the petitioner's articles demonstrates widespread international 
interest in, and reliance on, his work. We find that the petitioner's evidence is adequate to satisfy this 
criterion. 
Accordingly, the petitioner has satisfied three of the regulatory criteria required for classification as an alien 
of extraordinary ability. Pursuant to the statute and regulations as they are currently constituted, the petitioner 
qualifies for the classification sought. 
In review, while not all of the evidence presented in this matter carries the weight imputed to it by the 
petitioner, the totality of the evidence establishes an overall pattern of sustained national and international 
acclaim and extraordinary ability in the field of applied mechanics and composite materials. The petitioner 
has also established that he seeks to continue working in the same field in the United States and that his entry 
into the United States will substantially benefit prospectively the United States. Therefore, the petitioner has 
overcome the stated grounds for denial and thereby established eligibility for the benefits sought under 
section 203 of the Act. 
The burden of proof in visa petition proceedings remains entirely with the petitioner. Section 291 of the Act, 
8 U.S.C. 5 1361. The petitioner has sustained that burden. Accordingly, the decision of the director denying 
the petition will be withdrawn and the petition will be approved. 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained and the petition is approved.