Brittle materials are important for many applications ranging from the concrete structures to Beryllium aircraft parts. Crack growth and coalescence leads to the weakening and failure of brittle materials. The physics of crack growth is complex and modeling is largely limited to simple idealized settings. Simulations are difficult from both a physical accuracy and a computational complexity perspective. In this talk I will give an introduction to solid mechanics and damage modeling, then explain some of the experimental and computational challenges. I will present preliminary results as proof of concept for a crack-statistics scale bridging approach that enables a large scale simulation to account for damage due to cracks too small to resolve. Speaker(s): Nathan Vaughn (University of Michigan)