Introducing our new scientific staff member Francesco Maresca

Per September Dr. Francesco Maresca starts as a tenure-track assistant professor in Mechanics and Materials Engineering. Francesco Maresca received both his Bachelor (2008) and Master (2011) in Civil Engineering cum laude, at the University of Florence (Italy). After graduation, Francesco started in November 2011 a PhD project at the Eindhoven University of Technology titled "From damage to fracture in dual-phase steels: a focused experimental-numerical approach". By using a multi-scale modeling approach and continuum crystal plasticity, Francesco studied the role of thin retained austenite films on the mechanical behaviour (plasticity and fracture) of martensitic and multi-phase steels. The project was financially supported by the Materials innovation institute (M2i) in Delft and carried out in the group Mechanics of Materials of prof. dr. ir. M.G.D. Geers, supervised by dr. ir. V.G. Kouznetsova. The thesis was defended cum laude in November 2015.

Starting from November 2015, Francesco has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, in the Laboratory for Multiscale Mechanics Modeling (LAMMM) under the supervision of Prof. W.A. Curtin Ph.D. During his postdoctoral activity, Francesco used both molecular dynamics and continuum modelling to develop a new theory of martensitic phase transitions in steels as well as a new theory of solute strengthening of dislocations in bcc alloys, from dilute to high entropy alloys. Francesco’s research aims at the fundamental, multi-scale understanding (atomistic and continuum) of plasticity, phase transitions and failure in metal alloys, in order to develop predictive theories that can be used to guide materials design in uncharted regions of the material properties space.

Francesco will set up his research line in Groningen in the Computational Mechanical and Materials Engineering-group of the Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG). We warmly welcome Francesco in our institute and and look forward collaborating with him.