Dr Franz-Josef Ulm, is the Macomber Professor of Engineering Mechanics in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his engineering degree from the Technical University Munich in 1990, his Ph.D. from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in 1994; and his Habilitation Degree from the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan in 1998. Prior to joining MIT, he was research engineer at the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussees (LCPC) the central civil engineering research center for materials and structures of the French Department of Transportation and Public Works; last as head of the composite materials research division, where he was involved in many large scale civil engineering projects, including bridges and tunnels. He joined MIT in January 1999, where he is responsible for materials and structures, with a strong focus on materials science of geomaterials (concrete, soil, rock), model-based simulation and computational mechanics of durability problems of materials and structures, and development and implementation of new materials based on their nano-mechanical behavior.
His first book, entitled “Mechanics & Durability of Solids” was published by Prentice Hall in 2003. His latest book on “Microporomechanics” was published in 2006 by J. Wiley & Sons. He was the recipient of the 2002 Robert L’Hermite Award of RILEM, the International Union for testing of Materials and structures, in recognition of his contributions to concrete science and engineering; and of the 2005 Huber Award of ASCE in recognition of his contributions to the development of the field of Chemoplasticity.