Luca Deseri

* Education

- Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and Department of Mathematical Sciences - Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA-USA.

- Ph.D. in Continuum Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Structural Analysis, and Applied Mathematics. Consortium among the Universities of Florence, Bari, Genova, Pisa, Udine-Italy.

- Visiting graduate student at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and Department of Mathematical Sciences-Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA-USA.

- Master degree in Civil Engineering, curricula "Structural Engineering" at the University of Bologna, with magna cum lauda.

 Luca Deseri, Ph.D. - Biosketch

Luca is a tenured Full Professor of Solid Mechanics and Structural Engineering in the Dep.t of Mechanical, Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Trento, in Italy, where he is the Head of the Ph.D. School in Mechanical, Civil & Environmental Engineering, since 2019. He has also been re-appointed as Adjunct Research Professor in MEMS-Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Dept. in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018. Luca is also Adjunct Professor in both the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and in the one of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA. In September 2017 Luca stepped down from his position as permanent Full Professor and Division lead of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Brunel University London, with the permanent role of Full Professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering.

Within the last year and a half, Luca started a scientific collaboration at the University of Chicago with the Dept of Surgery and with the Dept. of Physics, though Sr. L. Pocivavsek and Prof.  K. Yee Lee, Provost for research at UC. 

Luca earned his MS in Structural Engineering from the University of Bologna (Italy) with Magna cum Lauda. Subsequently, he got his Ph.D. in Theoretical Mechanics from the University of Pisa, while spending a year at Carnegie Mellon at the Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis, where he subsequently did his post-doc in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He was then appointed assistant and then associate professor at the University of Ferrara. After eight years, he moved to the University of Molise (Italy) as permanent Full Professor of Solid Mechanics and deputy dean of Engineering. Shortly after he left to become Dept. Head of Mechanical & Structural Engineering at the University of Trento, in Italy. The School of Engineering in Trento was ranked first nationwide 12 times in the last 16 years. 

In 2012 Luca completed his term (4 years) at the Italian directorate of Solid Mechanics and Structural Engineering and three terms (9 years) as the leader of the local IUTAM society of Mechanics of Materials. He is a member of the ISDIMM-Interactions between Mechanics and Mathematics, panel member of the SNP, Society for Natural Philosophy. Furthermore, Luca is the only non-US scientist nominated for the election of the new Board of Directors of the SES-Society for Engineering Sciences.

He is associate editor of Frontiers, sect. of Mechanics of Materials (Nature publisher, Lausanne), and he is on the editorial board of the Int. J. of Medical Nano Research. He is reviewer for several major journals, such as Int. J. Solids & Structures, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, Proc. of the Royal Soc., Int. J. Non-Linear Mech., J. Elasticity, Nature Comm., Biomech. Modeling Mechanobiol., J. Nanomech. Micromech.-ASCE, J. Eur. Ceramic Soc., Math. Models Methods Appl. Sciences, Math. And Mech. of Solids, etc.

Luca has held several visiting professorships at Cornell, the University of Kentucky and Carnegie Mellon. He has been invited to visit multiple universities, including Berkeley, Caltech, Columbia NYC, Wisconsin-Madison, Nebraska-Lincoln, Ecole Polytechnique-Paris, Durham UK, Jiao Tong, Univ. Tech. Sidney, Univ. Auckland, among many others and to many specialized workshops held in major international conferences, such as WCCM, ECCM, ESMC, ASME, SES, SIAM, etc.

Luca’s research ranges from topics of interest in Mechanical Engineering and also to ones that push the boundaries of Theoretical Mechanics to foundational aspects of such Discipline. 

Recent interests had been in the area of multiscale modeling and multiphysics of the dynamics of structured media, including applications to granular materials, rhelogy of concrete, mechanobiology, cell mechanics and multiphysics, hierarchical structures. In this respect, most of the recent papers apply principles of Solid Mechanics to interdisciplinary and emerging fields in Mathematical Biology, Biomechanics and Engineering Sciences in general. An example of such research is the mechanobiology of receptors involved in second messenger activity across the cell membrane. The principles governing such dynamics lead to a paradigm with the potential of explaining the entry mechanism of COVID 19 inside human cells. Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/uop-art061520.php?fbclid=IwAR2Q9bycOVCTmUgpdOlmsSc-3ePhKbAFXGdAWUr5Hhb4BQv4jy-vFand2EI. 

INDEX OF THE CURRICULUM VITAE

6-Nationality and citizenship

6-Major employments and achieved ranks

7-Education

8-Memberships

8-Scientific interests

8-Recent talks and scientific activity

12-Recent grants

12-Leadership and managing skills

14-Networking

14-Teaching and relationships with students

15-Recent graduate students

15- Experience as a professional engineer

15- Recent editorial activity

16-Publications

21-Description of selected publications and their main results

-Nationality and citizenship: Italian

-Major employments and achieved ranks

--Current appointments and affiliations

September 2017-present  Tenured full professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics and Head of the Ph.D. School, Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy.

January 2019-present Adjunct Research Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science-MEMS, University of Pittsburgh USA.

July 2015-present Adjunct Professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA.

November 2013-present Full affiliate member at the Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6565 Fannin St., MS B- 490 Houston, TX 77030 TX-USA.

January 2016-January 2019 Adjunct Research professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science-MEMS, University of Pittsburgh USA.

February 2017-August 2017 Division Lead of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and tenured Full Professor Solid and Structural Mechanics, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering-MACE, Brunel University London, UK.

The purpose of the role is (1) to lead, manage and provide strategic direction to the Divisions of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and to provide visionary leadership in research and education activities of the Division; (2) to increase and improve research income and impact in the fields of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (3) to contribute to enhancing the external profile of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Brunel University London.

The main duties are the following: 

Leadership

•             To provide strong leadership for the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Divisions

•             To enhance the Divisions national and international reputation

•             To provide a supportive environment and foster the development of staff and students

•             To ensure the Divisions are both well-managed and well-run

•             To sit on the Department’s Academic and Management Committees.

•             To contribute to the management of the Department

Research

•             To publish high quality papers with impact in internationally recognized journals.

•             To obtain research grants and other forms of external funding to build and support a research group 

•             To maintain a national and international research profile and to collaborate with other HEIs, industry and the not for profit sector.

•             To establish new inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research opportunities with other Institute members, colleagues from other Universities and end-users from Industry/Business, as appropriate.

Teaching

•             To promote further recruitment of high quality UG & PG students within Aerospace Engineering Division.

•             To take an active role in using and developing new teaching methods/e-learning approaches.

•             To direct new teaching initiatives and courses as appropriate

PhD Students

•             To successfully supervise and train PhD students to timely completion of their studies

•             To provide support, guidance and mentorship to new supervisors of PhD students.

•             To actively assist in the recruitment of high quality PhD students.

Collegiality

•             To support the Head of MACE in leadership and management of the Department and the Vice-Dean Education & Research.

•             To attend meetings and events as required.

•             To represent the Head of MACE at external events, as and when requested

•             To mentor and support junior academics and post-doctoral fellows in their career development.

•             To maintain a high external profile at an individual and divisional level.

July 2016-January 2017 Division Lead of Aerospace Engineering, and Full Professor Solid and Structural Mechanics, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering-MACE, Brunel University London, UK.

November 2012-June 2016 Tenured full professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics, Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy.

--Previous appointments and positions

January-July 2014 Visiting professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics in the CIT-Dept.s of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University USA.

Sept. 2012-Aug. 2013 Visiting professorship at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis- Carnegie-Mellon University USA.

April 2009-November 2012   Head of the Dept. of Mechanical and Structural Engineering, University of Trento.

Supervisor of the following laboratories:

Materials, Structural Testing and Dynamics, Geotehcnica and Earthquake Engineering

Mechanics and Automatics

Computational Solid and Structural Mechanics

Turbomachinery

Geotechnics

Laboratory for physical modeling of structures and photoelasticity

Calibration of Force Devices (Laboratory of the “University Centre of Metrology” - C.U.M.)

Wind Turbine Test Field (CEST).

April 2008-Nov.2012 Tenured Full professor of Solid Mechanics and Strength of materials, Dept. of Mechanical and Structural Engineering, University of Trento.

August 28-September 5 2009 Visiting at the Department of Mathematical Sciences - Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA 15213.

April 15-May 14 2009 Visiting at: Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

August-Sept. 2008 Rheology Research Center and Dept of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

August-Sept. 2007 Dept of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin- Madison, USA.

July-August 2006 Co-op endowed Visiting Professor, College of Engineering and Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM), Cornell University, New York 14853.

January-June 2005 Visiting Professor at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and Department of Mathematical Sciences - Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA 15213.

January-June 2004 Visiting Professor at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM), Cornell University, 212 Kimball Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853.

January-June 2002 Visiting professor at the University of Kentucky, Department of Mathematics, Group of Continuum Mechanics (coordinated by Dr. Chi-Sing Man), Lexington KY.

January 2005-March 2008 Associate Dean of Engineering and Tenured Full professor of Solid Mechanics and Structural Engineering, S.A.V.A. Dept. University of Molise, Campobasso.

November 2001–December 2004 Tenured Associate Professor of Solid Mechanics, Strength of Materials and Structural Analysis, Dept. of Engineering, University of Ferrara.

1999 Rank of Associate Professor- Tenure track.

1996-1999 Tenure track Assistant professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics, Dept. of Engineering, University of Ferrara, Italy

-Education

- 1998 Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA-USA.

- 1995 Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Structural Analysis and Applied Mathematics. Consortium among the Universities of Pisa, Florence, Bari, Genova, Udine-Italy.

- 1992 Visiting graduate student at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and Department of Mathematical Sciences-Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA-USA.

-Memberships

- September 2013-present Panel member of the SNP, Society for Natural Philosophy;

- September 2014-present member of the SES, Society for Engineering Sciences;

- Dec.2013-present Full Affiliate member at HMRI-Nanomedicine Research Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital

- Sept. 2009-Dec. 2013: Member of the board of five coordinators of the Italian academic area of “Solid and Structural Mechanics”, disciplinary sector ICAR/08-Structural and Geotechnical Engineering;

- March 2008-Dec. 2013 Group of Mechanics of Materials, Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM-AIMETA), national coordinator since March 2008;

- Dec, 2011-present ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineering;

- June 2000-present Italian Group of Fracture, IGF  member;

- June 1996-presentNational Group of Applied Mathematics-Section of Engineering Mechanics, GNFM-ITALY,  member.

- January 2010-present ISIMM, International Society for the Interaction between Mechanics and Mathematics, member.

- February 2005-December 2006 member of the panel of reviewer of the project X-Fast, Advanced Space Transportation, European Space Agency (ESA), ESTEC, AB-Technologies. Project Manager: Dr. Eng. Biagio Ancarola.

-Scientific interests

My research interests are in the broad area of dynamical and evolutionary phenomena involving Multiscale Solid and Structural Mechanics and related areas of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Often times this goes beyond the boundaries of the traditional Solid Mechanics to branch out to new and challenging fields such as, but not limited to, mechano-biology and, very recently, to deformable polymeric dielectric actuators. In particular, studies towards the achievement of a new mathematical framework suitable to obtain multiscale constitutive equations for modelling the behaviour of classical and novel materials are active part of my current and future research. Obviously, a close and interdisciplinary collaboration with experimentalists will become essential to validate the obtained models.

-Recent talks and scientific activity

Spring 2021 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

January-June 2020 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

September 2019 

-Invited seminar at the Graduate Program in Applied Mathematics and Engineering at the National University of Galway, Ireland

-Invited seminar at CEE-Carnegie Mellon University

April 2019 Invited seminar at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

January 2019 Invited joint seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Civil & Environm. Eng., Carnegie Mellon University: Invited talk at the CAN seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2018 Invited talk at the Department of Structural Engineering-University of Naples “Federico II”

July 2018 WCCM 2018-NYC, Invited talk at the special session “Mechanics of biological structures”

April 2018 CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University-seminar 

May 2017  Cambridge UK, Dept. of Engineering-seminar

April 2017 Organizer of the minisymposium “Mathematical  models in Biomechanics across the scales: from cells to biological tissues” within  “5th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering”, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10 - 12 April 2017

March 2016  University of Bristol UK, Engineering and Applied Math. Seminar series

September 2016 ESB Conference, Palermo Sept. 2-8 2016, invited talk.

July 2016 International Center of Mechanics-CISM-course “The Role of Mechanics in the Study of Lipid Bilayers”, together with D.J.Steigmann (Berkeley), M. Deserno (Carnegie Mellon), M. Arroyo (Polytechnic University of Cataluna, ESP), J. Guven, (Univ. Mexico), R. Sauer (RWTH Aachen University).

May 2016 Invited talk at the Civil Engineering and mechanics seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2015 ASME-IMECE World Conf. workshop 52622, Houston TX

September 2015 Brunel University of London, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Eng.-seminars Aalto University-Espoo, Finland, Mechanics seminars

July 2015 Invited speaker at:

-ESMC-EUROMECH 2015-workshopon Cell Mechanics, talk on “Frequency-Based Mechanical Targeting of Healthy and Cancer Single-Cell Systems“, Madrid;

-CERMODEL- conf. Talk on “Mechanics of hierarchical ceramics”, Europ. J of Ceramics conf. series;

June 2015 Invited speaker at the Special Session #36 at the AMS-EMS-SPM, Porto

February 2015 Invited keynote at EUROMECH Colloquium 560: “Mechanics of Biological Membranes”, Ascona (Switzerland), ETH Zurich facility;

October 2014

SES-ASME annual meeting (Purdue IN):

- invited talk at the mini-symposium on Mechanobiology of cells and tissues (ref. A Agrawal UHouston, M Taher A Saif IL,T Lele U FL);

- invited talk at the mini symposium Soft Materials and Structures (ref. P. Reis, K Bertoldi, Harvard);

August 2014 Invited speaker at the UTA_CMU/MAT/0005/2009 workshop, Instituto Superior Técnico-Lisbon

July 2014 WCCM-ECCM-IACM-Eccomas 2014 Invited talk at the MMCM5-Multiscale and Multiphysics Modelling for Complex Materials

June 2014 Invited lecture at the ICFDA-International Conference on Fractional Differentiation and its Applications, Catania-Italy

January-April 2014 Invited talks at

- University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Civil Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Civil and Environmental Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Center for Nonlinear Analysis;

-Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist, Health Science Center, Houston TX-USA;

Sept. 2012-Nov. 2013: Invited talks at:

-Durham University UK, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences;

-University of Michigan Joint Institute Jong Tong Shanghai (ref. O. A. Bauchau) ;

-SES meeting at Brown University, workshops on (i) nano-biomechanics, (ii) in honor of the SES medalist D. J. Steigmann;

-Columbia University, Dept. Mechanical Engineering (ref. J. Kysar);

-APS Workshop 'Soft-Matter, Biology, & Bioinspiration’ Baltimore, March 2013 (ref: C. Majidi)

-University of Lincoln Nebraska, Mechanical Engineering, Group of Solid Mechanics (ref. E. Baesu)

-Department of Nanomedicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston TX-USA;

- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Indiana University and Purdue University (ref. G. Guidoboni);

-Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Columbia University NYC (Ref. R. Betti);

-Caltech, California Institute of Technology, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (ref. C. Daraio;

-University of Pittsburgh, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (ref. A. Vainchtein);

-CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie-Mellon University (ref. D. R. Owen and I. Fonseca).

May 2012 Invited talks at University of Naples and University of Bologna, Italy

July 2012 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Graz: TU Graz

Aug 2011 Invited seminar at the Department of Engineering Sciences and Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland

Nov 2010 Invited talk at the CNA seminar series, Center for Nonlinear Analysis- Carnegie-Mellon University USA

July 2010 Eccm 2010-Invited talk Workshop on Modeling of Complex Materials

Apr 2010 Invited talk at the Canadian Research Math. workshop on biovesicles, Montreal-Quebec-Canada

Febr 2010 Ecole Polytechnique Paris-LMS, France (talk)

2009

September AIMETA 09-Ancona (talk)

August visit at the CNA-CMU Pittsburgh PA

July ISDMM09-Trento (talk)

January GMA09-Polytechnic School-Milan, Italy (talk)

2008

September

Opening colloquium at the RRC (Rehology Research Center) University of Wisconsin-Madison-WI-USA (reference: Prof. Dr. Eng. A. J. Giacomin, Chair, RRC).

July Invited speaker at the symposium on "Recent Developments in the theory and applications of Structured Deformations, Canada (reference: Prof. Dr. D. R. Owen);

May Invited speaker at the Workshop on "Modelling biomembranes and biological structures", USA (reference: Prof. Dr. Eng. T. J. Healey.

February Visiting professor at the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Structural Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA; 

2007

October Invited speaker at the 44th Society of Engineering Sciences Conference- Bernard Coleman symposium, Texas A. & M., College Station TX, USA.

July-September Visiting professor at the:

-Department of Mathematical Sciences and Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890 USA;

-Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison,

USA.

January-February Invited lectures from the following institutions:

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA;

Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MI, USA.

2006

July-August Co-op endowed Visiting Professor, College of Engineering and Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM), Cornell University, 212 Kimball Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.

March-April Invited lectures from the following institutions:

Department of Mathematical Sciences and Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA Aerospace and Mechanics Dept., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, USA (Host: Prof. Dr. Eng. R. D. James),

Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Washington University, Saint Louis MO, USA, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Dept., Cornell University, Ithaca NY, USA.

2005

January-June Invited Visting University Professor, Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA.

2004

June-September Visiting professor, Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA;

January-June Invited seminars in the following institutions:

-Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota, MNUSA;

-Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Department (TAM), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA;

-Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh- PA, USA;

-University of Kentucky, Department of Mathematics (Group of Solid Mechanics), Lexington KY-USA.

2003

December Invited speaker at the Cofin 2002 Meeting, conference of the national grant "MMSM", national coordinator Prof. P. Podio- Guidugli, Bressanone, ITALY;

November Invited speaker at the international conf. Colloquium Lagrangianum 2003, Montpellier, France;

September Invited speaker at the SNP Meeting/IMA PI Conference: MultiscaleEffects in Material Microstructures and Defects, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY-USA.

August Visiting at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA. Invited seminar, A new approach to texture and plasticity of polycrystals.

February-March Visiting at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA.

2002

August-September Visiting at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA.

July Invited lecturer at the CISM Course: Multiscale Modeling in Continuum Mechanics and Structured Deformations, International Center for Mechanical Sciences, Udine-Italy, July 15-19, 2002.

Lecturers: D.R. Owen (USA), F. Marigo (FRA), M. Silhavi (Ceck Rep.), Le (D), G. Del Piero and R. Paroni, Italy.

2001

August Visiting at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA. Invited seminar, A new approach to texture and plasticity of polycrystals.

February-March Visiting at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA, USA.

2000

September Invited speaker c/o Meeting on Dissipative Effects in Mechanics”, Society for Natural Philosophy Meeting, University of California-Berkeley, USA (ref. Prof. Dr. D. J. Steigman)

June Invited speaker c/o Euromech2000, minisymposia “Strain localization and phase transitions”, Metz, FRA (ref. Prof. Dr. C. Faciu, Cristian.Faciu@imar.ro).

February Invited seminar c/o Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena-CA- USA (host: Prof. Dr. Eng. M. Ortiz).

-Recent grants

External senior scientists* in the “NIH-PITT bridge grant” 2018: “Engineering Biologic Topography into Vascular Grafts”, PI Dr. Edith Tzeng (UPMC), Dr. S. Velankar, Dr. L. Pocivavsek (UChicago)

*Luca’s status does not allow him to either PI or coPI grant proposals within the US system

FROM INDUSTRY

2018-2019 L.T.E.-Toyota Group-Italy: Investigation of failure mechanisms for handling devices (190 K€/year).

2006-present: S.A.C.M.I. Imola S. C. Ceramics grant on "Modelling for cold and dry compaction of ceramic powders", joint grant with D.I.M.S.-Trento (45 K€/year)

2007-2012: TRW Automotive grant. The subject of the work remains classified. (35K€/year).

FROM PUBLIC SOURCES

2018 (Dec.)-2021 ARS01-01384-PROSCAN, PON-UE-Foundational aspects in cancer medicine-In collaboration with University of Naples-Federico II (250 k€/year)

2019-2021 PRIN2017  20177TTP3S grant, Italian Ministry of University and Research

2017-2020 European Commission (EC)  FET Proactive (Neurofibres) grant No. 732344.

2016-2019 Mathematical modeling of the biomechanics regulation and pharmacologic antagonism of the minimal persistent flogosis in respiratory epithelial cells, (50K€/year)-in collaboration with Campania Bioscience- University of Naples-Federico II-Horizon2020.

2009-2013 PRIN-competitive research funding program from the MIUR-Italian Ministry of University and Research (46 K€/year per each unit)

2012-2015 FP7project INTERCER2 - Modelling and optimal design of ceramic structures with defects and imperfect interfaces ", FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IAPP (2,5 M€)- member

2013-2018 "HOTBRICKS - Mechanics of refractory materials at high-temperature for advanced industrial technologies" FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IAPP; total funding 1.1 MEuro (funding to the research unit: 678 kEuro)-member

2014-2019 Admin. coordinator of “INSTABILITIES”, ERC Adv. Grant-Prof. D. Bigoni.

2011-2012 NANOSENSE, from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Ministry of University, Research and Education (55 K€)-member

2007-2008: Chair and coordinator of INTERREG-Card-Phare `Meetigation of Seismisk Risk and Modelling’, Croatia-Molise program (1,5 M€/year)

2003-2006: Member of the National Grant "Modeling of Polycristalline Materials", in Applied Mathematics, Solid Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering and Material Science and Engineering (32 K€/year) 150K€/year, 3 years

2016-2019: Mathematical modeling of the biomechanics regulation and pharmacologic antagonism of the minimal persistent flogosis in respiratory epithelial cells, 250K€/year, Campania Bioscience Horizon2020.

-Leadership and managing skills

Fifteen years ago, a couple of years after winning a national competition to become full professor in Italy, the University of Molise hired me under the strategic plan to build the brand new College of Engineering. Immediately after, I led the start-up process, with the tasks of writing the proposal for the College under construction, including the hiring strategy, the frame for the students plan at all levels and the growth plan. 

During my permanence there, I was acting associate dean, delegate of the rector for the relationships with industries and I was also in charge of representing the College at the “COPI” (Union of the Italian Engineering Colleges) in Rome instead of the Dean. During that time I led an INTERREG project (EU funded) of the order of six hundred thousand euros involving the areas of Seismic Engineering, Solid and Soil Mechanics (Molise was the coordinator).

In 2008 I was invited to be appointed by the College of Engineering at the University of Trento, the n°1 college of engineering in Italy in ten years out of the last twelve, where I joined the DIMS-Dept. of Mechanical and Structural Engineering. Less than a year later, he was elected as head of this institution. Given the troubles suffered by such a department in the previous years, my plan was to push forward issues like (i) outsourcing coming from scientific and industrial grants and (ii) increasing international visibility in terms of publications and international relationships.

Organizational skills may be deduced by the fact that a particularly cohesive environment for faculties and students was built in Trento over the last year and a half. Although the department did have an average balance of seven hundred thousand euros/year, the first full year balance after my guidance jumped up to 3 millions euros/year. It is worth noting that the funding from the central government remained constant through the years (of the order of fifteen percent of the total). I think I gave strong motivations to the members of my department that led to a rapid improvement in both strategic directions and they seem to have the same trend for the upcoming year.

A good indication of having motivated colleagues is that after twenty five years from the foundation of the department, I was able to organize the first departmental conference ever held. This which was open to academicians, students and industries.

Leadership and management skills were of help while managing the following laboratories;

Materials and Structural Testing;

Mechanics and Automatics;

Computational Solid and Structural Mechanics;

Turbomachinery;

Geotechnics;

Laboratory for physical modeling of structures and photoelasticity;

Calibration of Force Devices (Laboratory of the “University Centre of Metrology” - C.U.M.);

Wind Turbine Test Field (CEST).

This has been a challenging and successful work. Particular emphasis may be put on laboratories which are more related to my scientific interests, such as Materials and Structural Testing, lab. for physical modeling of structures and photo-elasticity and Computational Solid and Structural Mechanics, which are leaders across Italy and top notch across Europe.

Among the issues I pursued during my term there has been a successful improvement of the graduate program and the increase of interdisciplinary research which also tied together academia and industries from Italy and foreign countries.

Interpersonal relationships are and have been also very important for me. In particular, good relationships with colleagues, students and people from industries and public administrations are key features that I pursued from the beginning of my career.

Faculties normally get along very well with me. For instance, the main reason why I have been elected as head of a department in Italy relies upon good personal relationships as well as the capability to compromise and let people to agree about general principles.

Leading teams, getting to the goals by keeping a good atmosphere represents a high gain for an academic environment.

-Networking

A few years after my Ph.D., which included a period of time at Carnegie-Mellon University, where I also spent a Postdoc, I established a long-standing network of international connections which actually is evolving year after year.

The academic network, mainly includes prestigious scientists and institutions in the USA, where I had a few visiting positions and systematic collaborations though the years; Canada and Europe are also part of my network. Aside from this, I also have good relationships with international industries in the field of automotive, production of machines for pressing ceramics, etc.

-Teaching and relationships with students

My long-standing experience (over 25 years) in teaching ranges from the Italian to the American system, where I taught with success at both levels. I was essentially in charge of courses in basic and advanced (including special topics) Solid Mechanics, Statics, basic and advanced Elasticity, Structural Mechanics, Structural Design, Structural Dynamics, Prestressed Concrete Structures, Linear Algebra and Applications, Differential Equations and Applications. Many undergraduate and Master degree students were supervised in Italy with good success, as well as a few graduate ones, who now are research fellows in Italian universities.

Skills to build up relationships with students is that I recently encouraged the ASI, Engineering Students association in Trento to apply to the EU network BEST, the famous European organization of students in technology; the reaction of ASI was enthusiastic. BEST was funded by many important international industries, with over thirty countries involved and over eighty clubs (right now there are only five partners in Italy).

Selected courses taught during the last 5 years.

At the University of Pittsburgh

Academic Year 2019-2020

•           MEMS3090: Special Topics in Continuum Mechanics

Academic Year 2015-2016 

•           Rigid Body Mechanics: Dynamics, Undergrad.-Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science.

At Carnegie Mellon University

Academic Year 2015-2016 

•           Solid Mechanics II: soft matter, electroactive and biological systems and large deformations, Spring 2016 graduate course in Civil and Mechanical Eng.;

•           Academic Year 2013-2014 

•           Solid Mechanics II: Spring 2014 graduate course in Civil, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics.

At Brunel University London, UK

Academic Year 2016-2017

•           Rigid Body Mechanics: Dynamics, Undergrad.-Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.

At the University of Trento, Italy

•           Academic Year 2018-2019 

•           Foundation of Structural Engineering, Undergraduate-Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Professional Curriculum;

•           Nonlinear Solid Mechanics, Graduate Course in Engineering;

Academic Year 2017-2018 

•           Foundation of Structural Engineering, Undergraduate-Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Professional Curriculum;

•           Nonlinear Solid Mechanics, Graduate Course in Engineering;

Academic Year 2015-2016 

•           Structural Engineering II, Undergraduate-Civil & Mechanical Engineering;

Academic Year 2014-2015

•           Mechanics of biological membranes, Graduate Course in Engineering;

•           Solid and Structural Mechanics I, Undergraduate course in Civil & Mechanical Engineering.

-Recent graduate students

Giuseppe Zurlo, (2007), now senior lecturer (associate professor) at NUI Galway (Ireland), Marco Dalla Torre (2009), Andrea Caserotti (2010), Laura Galuppi (2011), now assistant professor at the University of Parma (Italy), Andrea Ershbammer (2012),  Daniele Maturi (2013), Pietro Pollaci (2015), Andrea Cugno (2017), now postdoctoral associate at the UC-San Diego (USA),  Valentina Piccolo and Stefania Palumbo (2019) ongoing graduation, Riccardo Cavuoto (expected  2020), Matteo Gaibotti (expected 2021), Andrea Mirandola.

-Experience as a professional engineer

My experience in this field is primarily based in Italy and it can be summarized as follows.

-Registered MS Civil and Mechanical Engineer since 1990-Italy;

-Co-founder of “Sinapsy Engineering s.a.s.” 1995 (quit in 1997 to undertake the Postdoc in the US);

-Professional testing of monumental structures, e.g. churches for the Archdioceses of Ravenna: improvement of structures with a cultural heritage against earthquakes, 2010-2014;

-Professional testing structures in seismic zones: public buildings, such as schools, for local municipalities 2009-2013;

-Consultant for SACMI Imola, 2008-2010, Mechanical Engineering Design consultancy;

-Consultant for TRW Automotive Italy (now ZF), 2007-present, Mechanical Engineering Design consultancy.

-Recent editorial activity

The most recent activity has involved the nomination as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Materials, sect. of Mechanics of Materials, a Nature publisher group (EPFL, Switzerland). Editorial board member of: Journal of Nanomaterials, International Journal of Medical Nano Research, Journal of Nanomedicine and Applications, Mathematical Problems in Engineering.

Furthermore, service as a reviewer is provided for the following journals:

-Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids,

-Proceedings of the Royal Society-A,

-CMAME-Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics,

-International Journal of Solids and Structures,

-Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE

-Journal of Elasticity,

-Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids,

-Meccanica,

-Composites B,

-Journal of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics,

-ZAMM- Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Mathematik und Physik,

-Nature Communications,

-Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology,

-Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation

-Journal of the European Ceramic Society,

-Physics of fluids,

-Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences,

-Evolution Equations and Control Theory (EECT).

A list of publications is available in the following links: 

https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/People/Faculty/Profiles/Luca-Deseri/

https://www.houstonmethodist.org/faculty/luca-deseri/

https://scholar.google.ch/citations?hl=it&user=ajNN70wAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS

Luca’s research ranges from topics of interest in Mechanical Engineering and also to ones that push the boundaries of Theoretical Mechanics to foundational aspects of such Discipline. 

Recent interests had been in the area of multiscale modeling and multiphysics of the dynamics of structured media, including applications to granular materials, rhelogy of concrete, mechanobiology, cell mechanics and multiphysics, hierarchical structures. In this respect, most of the recent papers apply principles of Solid Mechanics to interdisciplinary and emerging fields in Mathematical Biology, Biomechanics and Engineering Sciences in general. 

An example of such research is the mechanobiology of receptors involved in second messenger activity across the cell membrane. The principles governing such dynamics lead to a paradigm with the potential of explaining the entry mechanism of COVID 19 inside human cells. Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/uop-art061520.php?fbclid=IwAR2Q9bycOVCTmUgpdOlmsSc-3ePhKbAFXGdAWUr5Hhb4BQv4jy-vFand2EI. 

RECENT TALKS AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
 

Spring 2021 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

January-June 2020 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

September 2019 

-Invited seminar at the Graduate Program in Applied Mathematics and Engineering at the National University of Galway, Ireland

-Invited seminar at CEE-Carnegie Mellon University

April 2019 Invited seminar at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

January 2019 Invited joint seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Civil & Environm. Eng., Carnegie Mellon University: Invited talk at the CAN seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2018 Invited talk at the Department of Structural Engineering-University of Naples “Federico II”

July 2018 WCCM 2018-NYC, Invited talk at the special session “Mechanics of biological structures”

April 2018 CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University-seminar 

May 2017  Cambridge UK, Dept. of Engineering-seminar

April 2017 Organizer of the minisymposium “Mathematical  models in Biomechanics across the scales: from cells to biological tissues” within  “5th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering”, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10 - 12 April 2017

March 2016  University of Bristol UK, Engineering and Applied Math. Seminar series

September 2016 ESB Conference, Palermo Sept. 2-8 2016, invited talk.

July 2016 International Center of Mechanics-CISM-course “The Role of Mechanics in the Study of Lipid Bilayers”, together with D.J.Steigmann (Berkeley), M. Deserno (Carnegie Mellon), M. Arroyo (Polytechnic University of Cataluna, ESP), J. Guven, (Univ. Mexico), R. Sauer (RWTH Aachen University).

May 2016 Invited talk at the Civil Engineering and mechanics seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2015 ASME-IMECE World Conf. workshop 52622, Houston TX

September 2015 Brunel University of London, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Eng.-seminars Aalto University-Espoo, Finland, Mechanics seminars

July 2015 Invited speaker at:

-ESMC-EUROMECH 2015-workshopon Cell Mechanics, talk on “Frequency-Based Mechanical Targeting of Healthy and Cancer Single-Cell Systems“, Madrid;

-CERMODEL- conf. Talk on “Mechanics of hierarchical ceramics”, Europ. J of Ceramics conf. series;

June 2015 Invited speaker at the Special Session #36 at the AMS-EMS-SPM, Porto

February 2015 Invited keynote at EUROMECH Colloquium 560: “Mechanics of Biological Membranes”, Ascona (Switzerland), ETH Zurich facility.

Etc.

- March 2008-Dec. 2013 Group of Mechanics of Materials, Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM-AIMETA), national coordinator 

Spring 2021 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

January-June 2020 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

September 2019 

-Invited seminar at the Graduate Program in Applied Mathematics and Engineering at the National University of Galway, Ireland

-Invited seminar at CEE-Carnegie Mellon University

April 2019 Invited seminar at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

January 2019 Invited joint seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Civil & Environm. Eng., Carnegie Mellon University: Invited talk at the CAN seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2018 Invited talk at the Department of Structural Engineering-University of Naples “Federico II”

July 2018 WCCM 2018-NYC, Invited talk at the special session “Mechanics of biological structures”

April 2018 CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University-seminar 

May 2017  Cambridge UK, Dept. of Engineering-seminar

April 2017 Organizer of the minisymposium “Mathematical  models in Biomechanics across the scales: from cells to biological tissues” within  “5th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering”, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10 - 12 April 2017

March 2016  University of Bristol UK, Engineering and Applied Math. Seminar series

September 2016 ESB Conference, Palermo Sept. 2-8 2016, invited talk.

July 2016 International Center of Mechanics-CISM-course “The Role of Mechanics in the Study of Lipid Bilayers”, together with D.J.Steigmann (Berkeley), M. Deserno (Carnegie Mellon), M. Arroyo (Polytechnic University of Cataluna, ESP), J. Guven, (Univ. Mexico), R. Sauer (RWTH Aachen University).

May 2016 Invited talk at the Civil Engineering and mechanics seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2015 ASME-IMECE World Conf. workshop 52622, Houston TX

September 2015 Brunel University of London, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Eng.-seminars Aalto University-Espoo, Finland, Mechanics seminars

July 2015 Invited speaker at:

-ESMC-EUROMECH 2015-workshopon Cell Mechanics, talk on “Frequency-Based Mechanical Targeting of Healthy and Cancer Single-Cell Systems“, Madrid;

-CERMODEL- conf. Talk on “Mechanics of hierarchical ceramics”, Europ. J of Ceramics conf. series;

June 2015 Invited speaker at the Special Session #36 at the AMS-EMS-SPM, Porto

February 2015 Invited keynote at EUROMECH Colloquium 560: “Mechanics of Biological Membranes”, Ascona (Switzerland), ETH Zurich facility;

October 2014

SES-ASME annual meeting (Purdue IN):

- invited talk at the mini-symposium on Mechanobiology of cells and tissues (ref. A Agrawal UHouston, M Taher A Saif IL,T Lele U FL);

- invited talk at the mini symposium Soft Materials and Structures (ref. P. Reis, K Bertoldi, Harvard);

August 2014 Invited speaker at the UTA_CMU/MAT/0005/2009 workshop, Instituto Superior Técnico-Lisbon

July 2014 WCCM-ECCM-IACM-Eccomas 2014 Invited talk at the MMCM5-Multiscale and Multiphysics Modelling for Complex Materials

June 2014 Invited lecture at the ICFDA-International Conference on Fractional Differentiation and its Applications, Catania-Italy

January-April 2014 Invited talks at

- University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Civil Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Civil and Environmental Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Center for Nonlinear Analysis;

-Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist, Health Science Center, Houston TX-USA;

Sept. 2012-Nov. 2013: Invited talks at:

-Durham University UK, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences;

-University of Michigan Joint Institute Jong Tong Shanghai (ref. O. A. Bauchau) ;

-SES meeting at Brown University, workshops on (i) nano-biomechanics, (ii) in honor of the SES medalist D. J. Steigmann;

-Columbia University, Dept. Mechanical Engineering (ref. J. Kysar);

-APS Workshop 'Soft-Matter, Biology, & Bioinspiration’ Baltimore, March 2013 (ref: C. Majidi)

-University of Lincoln Nebraska, Mechanical Engineering, Group of Solid Mechanics (ref. E. Baesu)

-Department of Nanomedicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston TX-USA;

- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Indiana University and Purdue University (ref. G. Guidoboni);

-Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Columbia University NYC (Ref. R. Betti);

-Caltech, California Institute of Technology, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (ref. C. Daraio;

-University of Pittsburgh, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (ref. A. Vainchtein);

-CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie-Mellon University (ref. D. R. Owen and I. Fonseca).

May 2012 Invited talks at University of Naples and University of Bologna, Italy

July 2012 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Graz: TU Graz

Aug 2011 Invited seminar at the Department of Engineering Sciences and Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland

etc.