University of Padova (UNIPD), Italy

University of Padua was founded in 1222, has thirteen Faculties and offers over 100 three-year degree courses, over 80 higher degree courses and many specialization degree courses, as well as many Master's Degree courses. The Department of Structural and Transportation Engineering carries on the tradition of the ancient Royal School of Application for Engineers, founded in 1876 and has its origins from the technical-scientific investigations of the Padua scientists of the eighteen century. The Department offers excellent opportunities for research and study, leading to advanced degrees in the areas of mechanics of materials, structural analysis and design, mechanics of structures and solids and construction.

Competencies and facilities

The MUMOLADE fellows are offered with numerous opportunities in training and research, e.g. the doctoral school at University of Padua is available (Doctoral School in Civil and Environmental Engineering Sciences, directed by Prof. Stefano Lanzoni (http://www.image.unipd.it/scuola_dottorato); the Summer Schools will be organized in summer 2010, 2011 and 2012 by the Strategic Project of the University of Padua “Algorithms and Architectures for Computational Science and Engineering” directed by Prof. Gianfranco Bilardi. Moreover, the experimental laboratories for testing of geomaterials at the Department of Construction and Transportation Engineering and at the Department of Hydraulics and Geotechnics is available for validating constitutive laws and to study the hydro-mechanical conditions for the initiation of small scale landslides. A Scientific Computing Laboratory is devoted to the High Performance Scientific Computing and Computer Simulation of structures and materials. 

Key person

Prof. Bernhard A. SCHREFLER is Secretary General of the International Centre of Mechanical Sciences (CISM), member of the Executive Council of IACM, of the Executive Committee of the Congress Committee of IUTAM and Secretary General of EUROMECH. He received honorary doctorates from St. Petersburg State Technical University, University of Hannover, Technical University of Lodz, Russian Academy of Sciences and a honorary fellowship from the University of Wales. He is the recipient of the 2009 ASCE Maurice A. Biot Medal, of the IACM Computational Mechanics Award in 2002 and of the IACM Award in 2006.