Visiting professors at Politecnico

Start date - End date: 01 September 2021 - 31 January 2022
Institution of origin: School of Architecture, Planning & Geomatics, University of Cape Town
PoliTO receiving department: DIST - Dipartimento Interateneo di Scienze, Progetto e Politiche del Territorio
PoliTO coordinator: CAMILLO BOANO

Tomà Berlanda (Venice, 1976), is an architect and scholar with extensive international academic and professional experience. As of April 2015, he is Professor of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics at the University of Cape Town, where he also held the appointment as Director (2015-2018). His research interests focus on the implications that can be drawn from a non-stereotypical reading of the African city and the practice of architecture in 
non- Western urban settings and landscapes. He has co-founded asa studio and astudio.space, two practices that have produced internationally recognised design work. His collaborative projects are the result of an engagement with the role of quality design for underprivileged communities, an include school buildings, early childhood development centres, and health facilities. He is the author of Architectural Topographies (Routledge, 2014), and, together with K.H. Smith, of
Interpreting Kigali (University of Arkansas press, 2018).

Start date - End date: 01 October 2021 - 28 February 2022
Institution of origin: University Politehnica of Bucharest
PoliTO receiving department: DISAT - Dipartimento Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia
PoliTO coordinator: GIOVANNI BARBERO

Anca-Luiza Ionescu (born Alexe) (PhD in Physics, University of Bucharest) full professor,  Department of Physics, University Politehnica of Bucharest. Head of the Research Laboratory Physics of Materials. Research interests: experimental investigations and modeling of interface properties of anisotropic liquids in contact with solid surfaces, elastic and electro-optic properties of mesomorfic materials, adsorption phenomena and impedance spectroscopy in electrolytic cells. She revised and proposed experimental techniques and models to characterize liquid crystals and polymeric materials with ionic conduction, dielectric and visco-elastic properties of hydrogels for biomedical applications, structural properties of photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar and water splitting cells.

In the Group of Nanotechnologies, A.L.Ionescu will be involved in the interpretation of the conduction properties of the ionic liquid electrolytes with high ionic concentration, different sizes and diffusion coefficients for anions and cations, selective ion adsorption. Advanced functionalized electrodes with large geometric area will be examined, for modeling the influence of the pore size and  distribution on the active electrode's area in contact with the electrolyte.

Courses proposed for PhD School: Study of electrochemical processes by microscopy and spectroscopy

Start date - End date: : 01 October 2021 - 31 July 2022
Institution of origin: Vector Architects
PoliTO receiving department: DAD - Dipartimento di Architettura e Design
PoliTO coordinator: ALBERTO BOLOGNA

DONG Gong founded Vector Architects in 2008. He was appointed as the Plym Distinguished Professor at University of Illinois, and elected as the foreign member of French Academy of Architecture in 2019. He has been teaching Design Studio at Tsinghua University since 2014. DONG Gong received Bachelor & Master of Architecture from Tsinghua University, followed by a diploma at University of Illinois where he received the Master of Architecture. Prior to establishing his own practice, he worked for Richard Meier & Partners and Steven Holl Architects in New York. DONG Gong / Vector Architects has also been invited to various exhibitions including "FREESPACE" in Arsenale and China's pavilion of 2018 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (Italy). Vector Architects has won awards internationally including Nominated by Swiss Architectural Award (2018); Grand Award and Gold Award of DFA Design for Asia Awards (2016); The Overall Winner of Italian Archmarathon Awards (2016); "Design Vanguard" selected by Architectural Record (2014); 1st Prize of Chinese Excellent Exploration & Design Industry Awards (2017/2013), etc. Vector's projects have been published by "CASABELLA", "The New York Times", "Wallpaper", "A+U", "Detail", "The Architectural Review", "Domus", etc.

DONG Gong has been invited as a guest speaker and critic by universities, academic and professional institutions including Tsinghua University (China), the University of Hong Kong (China Hong Kong), National Cheng Kung University (China Taiwan), University of Pennsylvania (USA), University of Illinois (USA), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (Swiss), Société Française des Architectes (France), University of Applied Science Munich (Germany), Politecnico di Torino (Italy), CASABELLA Formazione (Italy), etc.

Representative works: Renovation of the Captain’s House, Seashore Library, Seashore Chapel, Chongqing Taoyuanju

Community Center, Alila Yangshuo, Suzhou Intangible Cultural Center, etc.

Start date - End date: 05 October 2021 - 24 January 2022
Institution of origin: Loughborough University, United Kingdom
PoliTO receiving department: DISEG - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale, Edile e Geotecnica
PoliTO coordinator: GIUSEPPE CARLO MARANO

Dr Alessandro Palmeri is a Reader in Structural Engineering & Dynamics and Leader of the Structures & Materials Group within the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University. Ranked in the top ten in each of the most recent British league tables and in the top 400 of the World University Rankings 2021, Loughborough University is one of the funding members of UKCRIC, the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities, by far the largest integrated research initiative funded by the UK government in the sector.
Dr Palmeri’s research is mainly concentrated around: i) Response analysis of engineering structures characterised by complex dynamic behaviour; ii) Quantification and propagation of uncertainty in structural modelling and randomness in applied loads. The scientific command of these lines of enquiry is evidenced by impactful outputs and prestigious partnerships with other academic institutions in the UK (e.g. Bath, Birmingham and Leeds) and overseas (e.g. IIT Delhi, Notre Dame and Southern Methodist University) as well as industrial support from world-leading company such as ECI (European Construction Institute), Ove Arup, E.On, MS Amlin and RWDI.
Since 2004, Dr Palmeri’s scholarship and research activities have been supported by national and international funding bodies with competitive research grants exceeding £750k; since 2006, he has supervised doctoral students, both in Italy and in the UK, on a variety of structural engineering topics (14 have successfully completed their studies and two are currently in progress).
Up to date, the results of Dr Palmeri’s research have been published in over 150 outputs, including 40 journals papers, which have attracted > 900 citations (source: Google Scholar), > 600 in the last 5 years, from > 50 countries/territories (source: Scopus), resulting in h-index= 18 in Google Scholar. Other indicators of excellence and international reputation include: invited lectures (4) and successful organisation of special sessions and mini-symposia (6) in prestigious conferences; organisation of special issues for leading journals (3); journal and conference paper awards (3); editorial board membership for journals (3) and specialist conferences (9); invited speaker in doctoral and professional seminar series (7); regular reviewer for many top journals and grant assessor for many funding bodies, in addition of being associate peer review college member of the EPSRC (the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council).
Owing to his strong technical background in Structural Engineering, Dr Palmeri has taught in a variety of modules, at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, demonstrating great versatility and receiving consistently excellent student feedback, including the “2019-20 Teaching Star Award” in his School for “Structural Dynamics & Earthquake

Start date - End date: 08 November 2021 - 10 February 2022
Ente di provenienza: Universitat de Girona (Spain)
PoliTO receiving department: DIGEP - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale e della Produzione
PoliTO coordinator: LUCA MASTROGIACOMO

Dr. Martí Casadesús Fa is a Professor in the Department of Business Management and Product Development at the University of Girona. He studied Industrial Engineering (UPC) and holds a Doctorate in
Industrial engineering (UdG). His teaching is focused on “Operations Management” and “Quality Management”. According to all the evaluations received at the University of Girona, he had always been classified at level A on a scale of 4 levels (A,B,C and D). He is currently co-director of the research group GREP (Research Group in Product, process and production) at the University of Girona. This group is devoted to the design of new planning and management of production systems, as well as quality management systems. He is also the director of the Consolidated group of research by the Government of Catalonia, GITASP, devoted to the research in the innovation in manufacturing systems. His research is focused on quality management, area in which he had participated and lead many national and international projects. He has several publications in research journal as: Total Quality Management, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, The TQM Magazine, International Journal ofOperations & Management, ....

He has published more than 50 articles in JCR indexed journals, more than 100 contributions in Conferences and more than 10 Research books. His h-index are 25 (WoS), 31 (Scopus) and 47 (Google Scholar). He has received four different research awards. He is one of the co-founders of the International Conference on Quality and Engineering Management (ICQEM). He has been vice-dean at the Polytechnic School and vice-rector for Quality Teaching and the Vice-Rector
for Planning & Quality at the University of Girona. He is currently an international expert for the evaluation of engineering programs in SKVC (Lithuania), A3ES (Portugal), ADEK (Abu Dhabi) and QAC (Hong Kong). He is currently the director of AQU Catalunya (External Quality Agency for Higher Education in Catalonia) and Board Member and Secretariat of INQAAHE's Board (International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education). He is also a Board member of the Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the University of Girona.

Start date - End date: 01 December 2021 - 31 May 2022
Institution of origin: University of Maringá
PoliTO receiving department: DISAT - Dipartimento Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia
PoliTO coordinator: GIOVANNI BARBERO

Luiz Roberto Evangelista, born in 1958 in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil, received his Ph. D. from University of São Paulo in 1988. He began as Assistant Professor of University of Maringá in 1982 and became Full Professor of Theoretical Physics in 2001.  In the last decades, his scientific career was dedicated to mathematical physics, focusing problems of statistical mechanics and on fundamentals of the elastic continuum theory and surface phenomena, which are crucial to understand the technological applications of liquid-crystalline materials. In the last twenty years, he has also investigated diffusive phenomena (usual and anomalous) in several systems, ranging from complex fluids to chemical and mechanical engineering and physics of condensed matter, pioneering the applications of fractional calculus to the field of impedance spectroscopy.  Recently, he has published a book (the seventh of a series of scientific texts he wrote) that accounts also for these pioneering contributions to this field (Cambridge University Press, 2018).  He has been supervisor of several Ph. D. theses and authored nearly 200 papers in international journals. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Physical Review E (APS) and Nature Scientific Reports. He has been Visiting Professor of Politecnico di Torino (2019-2020).

Start date - End date: 06 April 2022 - 06 May 2022
Institution of origin: Technion University
PoliTO receiving department: DIGEP - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale e della Produzione
PoliTO coordinator: LUCA IULIANO

Dr. Popov is Head of Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) Center at Israel Institute of Metals (Technion). Specialist in additive manufacturing (EBM, SLM/SLS, Binder Jetting), associated thermal and other post-processing processes, and development of new materials for AM, including functional materials and functionally graded metal-based and ceramic-based materials. Dr. Popov is an author and lecturer of several academic courses focused on technological, materials, and application aspects of additive manufacturing and 3D printing.

Start date - End date: 02 May 2022 - 26 June 2022
Institution of origin: University of Copenhagen
PoliTO receiving department: DIST - Dipartimento Interateneo di Scienze, Progetto e Politiche del Territorio
PoliTO coordinator: CLAUDIA CASSATELLA

Lone Søderkvist Kristensen is Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Department for Research at University of Copenhagen, Dept. of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management and has more than 20 years of research and teaching experiences in Countryside Planning and Management. She has a master’s degree in horticulture and a PhD in Countryside Planning and Management. Her research topics include landscape changes in agricultural landscapes, farmers’ landscape behavior, agricultural policy, policy integration, agri-environmental policies, spatial planning, participatory and collaborative planning and assessment of planning processes. Participation in EU Framework Projects has been a regularly research activity and she has been leading several bigger national projects on landscape planning and management. In term of management, she has been leader of the research-group ‘Spatial Change and Planning’ and since 2018 functioned as Deputy Head of Department for Research. During the last 10 years, her research has focused on the practice of collaborative and strategic planning targeted rural landscapes. During this work, she has had an intensive collaboration with planning practice in Denmark (Municipality level) and she has edited and co-authored two books on the topic and several articles in international journals. Currently she is engaged in planning projects concerning regional landscapes and the green transition including both the climate and biodiversity crises.

Start date - End date: 09 May 2022 - 06 June 2022
Institution of origin: TU Berlin
PoliTO receiving department: DET - Dipartimento di Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni

Falko Dressler is full professor and Chair for Telecommunication Networks at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, TU Berlin. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Dept. of Computer Science, University of Erlangen
in 2003. He has been associate editor-in-chief for IEEE Trans. on Mobile Computing and Elsevier Computer Communications as well as an editor for journals such as IEEE/ACM Trans. on Networking, IEEE Trans. on Network Science and
Engineering, Elsevier Ad Hoc Networks, and Elsevier Nano Communication Networks. He has been chairing conferences such as IEEE INFOCOM, ACM MobiSys, ACM MobiHoc, IEEE VNC, IEEE GLOBECOM. He authored the textbooks
Self-Organization in Sensor&Actor Networks published by Wiley&Sons and Vehicular Networking published by Cambridge University Press. He has been an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer as well as an ACM Distinguished Speaker.
Dr. Dressler is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Distinguished Member. He is a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering. He has been serving on the IEEE COMSOC Conference Council and the ACM SIGMOBILE
Executive Committee. His research objectives include adaptive wireless networking (sub-6GHz, mmWave, visible light, molecular communication) and wireless-based sensing with applications in ad-hoc and sensor networks, Internet of
Things, and Cyber-Physical Systems.

Start date - End date: 16 May 2022 - 16 July 2022
Institution of origin: Arizona State University
PoliTO receiving department: DIST - Dipartimento Interateneo di Scienze, Progetto e Politiche del Territorio
PoliTO coordinator: OMBRETTA CALDARICE

Dr. Sara Meerow is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University in the United States. She is an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersection of urban planning and geography to make cities more resilient to climate change and other hazards in ways that are sustainable and just. Her problem-driven, collaborative research combines quantitative and qualitative social science methods with spatial analysis in three focus areas: 1) conceptualizations of urban resilience; 2) planning for urban resilience in a changing climate; and 3) green infrastructure to enhance social-ecological resilience. Dr. Meerow’s influential research on urban resilience conceptualizations reveals important distinctions in how resilience is defined by different academic disciplines, practitioners, and the public that suggest that the predominant understanding of resilience as ‘bouncing back’ from disruption is unlikely to foster the transformative changes needed to address urban challenges, including climate change. The definition of urban resilience her and her colleagues proposed and their framework for critically applying the definition in different contexts are among the most highly cited in their respective journals and on the topic of urban resilience. In other work, Dr. Meerow’s examines how cities are translating resilience into practice and whether these plans effectively tackle climate change and systemic injustices while transforming governance. Some of her ongoing research projects focus specifically on planning for resilience to flooding and extreme heat, looking at how these hazards are governed across cities and developing new methodologies for analyzing how different community plans work as a network to shape resilience. Dr. Meerow also researches green infrastructure or nature-based solutions (green roofs, rain gardens, bioswales, etc.) as a widely promoted strategy to enhance resilience. By unpacking the complexities of green infrastructure planning, she equips cities with the tools to plan green infrastructure more strategically and equitably. Dr. Meerow’s research has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and she has published more than 30 articles in academic journals including Nature, Journal of the American Planning Association, Landscape and Urban Planning, Urban Geography, Environmental Research Letters, and Urban Studies. She has a Ph.D. from the School of Natural Resources and Environment (now the School for Environment and Sustainability) at the University of Michigan, a master’s in international development studies from the University of Amsterdam, and a bachelor’s in political science and history from the University of Florida.