Short CURRICULUM VITAE                     Nicola Pugno

 

 

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Occupation:                Professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics, since 2005, Politecnico di Torino;

Founder and Head of the Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Nanomechanics “Giuseppe Maria Pugno”;

Leader of the Bio-inspired Nanomechancis Research Group (BIONANOMECH Group).

Address:                     Politecnico di Torino, Dept. of Structural Engineering and Geotechnics, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.

Mobile:                      +39.338.6275625

Tel.:                            +39.(0)11.0904902

Fax:                            +39.(0)11.0904899

E-mail:                       nicola.pugno@polito.it

Web-site:                   Personal: http://staff.polito.it/nicola.pugno/

Pugno Lab: http://areeweb.polito.it/ricerca/bionanomech/

Nationality:                Italian

Adjunct Scientist:      National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) – National Laboratories of Frascati, Frascati, Italy;

National Institute of Metrological Research (INRIM), Turin, Italy;

Vice-President Europe and Country Director of EuroSpaceward, Bertrange, Luxembourg.

Marital status:            Married, with three babies, two girls and one boy (see attached picture).

Date of Birth:             January 4th, 1972 (Pavia, Italy)

Spoken languages:     English (good), Spanish and French (basic)

Sports:                        Long distance mountain competitions. Selected Personal Records:

(1)  Ski Alpinism:

Partecipations to the 7 first modern editions of the prestigious “Trofeo Mezzalama”, with a record of 5h 26min;

(2)  Bike:

2a) Personal Tour: “Tour du Mont Blanc”, with more than 320 Km and 8000 meters climbed, in 17h no-stop;

2b) Mountain Bike: 2th position at first stage and 3th position at two single stages of the the Iron Bike (“The world’s hardest mountain bike raid”);

2c) Road Bike: 18th position at the “La Fausto Coppi” (among about one thousand of participants).

(3)  Running:

(Firenze) Marathon, 2h 55min

Volunteer:                  in South American catholic missions (four summers) and in Lourdes (four times). Associations to AVIS and AIDO.

 

EDUCATION (Torino)

October 1990 - July 1995:                 Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering, 110/110 cum laude

December 1995 - December 1998:   Ph.D. Course in Solid and Structural Mechanics (Mathematical Foundations of Fracture and Adhesion)

October 2000 - April 2004:               Master Degree in Theoretical Physics and Astrophisics, 110/110 cum laude

Current:                                              Ph.D Course in Biology (Learning Solid and Structural Mechanics from Spiders)

         

TEACHING ACTIVITY (Politecnico di Torino)

From 1996 to 2001, Assistant to the Course of “Structural and Solid Mechanics”

Since 2001 up to now, Lecturer of “Structural and Solid Mechanics”

Since 2004 up to now, Lecturer of “Structural and Solid Bio- & Nano-Mechanics”

Since 2010 up to now, Lecturer of the advanced course “Bio-Inspired Advanced Nanomechanics”, even given at the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (Udine, 2011).

 

VISITING SCHOLAR/PROFESSOR (Research Topic: Nanomechanics)

August 2003 – February 2004: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

(Prof. H. Espinosa).

August 2004: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA (Prof. R. Ruoff)

May 2005: Max Planck Institute, Stuttgart, Germany (Prof. H. Gao).

July-September 2005: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece (Prof. E. Aifantis).

April-May 2007: Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA (Nobel Laureate H. Kroto).

May 2009 (first part): Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA (Prof. H. Gao).

May 2009 (second part): Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachussetts, USA (Prof. M. Buehler).

June 2009 (first part):            Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, (Prof. A. Windle).
June 2009 (second part): Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, Cambridge, UK (Prof. A. Ferrari).

June 2011 (second part): Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachussetts, USA (Prof. M. Buehler).

 

AWARDS

Menzione Optime 1995

Who’s Who in Science and Engineering 2003

Leading Scientists of the World 2005

Who’s Who in Computational Science and Engineering 2005

European Research Council “Ideas” StG Winner 2011 (Bio-inspired hierarchical super nanomaterials), with an award of 1 milion of euros.

 

EDITORIAL BOARD

Journal of the Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, Materials Physics and Mechanics, ISRN Mechanical Engineering, BioNanoScience, Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials, Engineering Technology & Applied Science Research, Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, Jounal of Bioengineering and Biomedical Sciences, Materials, Jounal of Materials and Biomedical Sciences, Jounal of Metals, Micromachines; Open Mechanics Journal, Open Applied Mathematics Journal, Open Acoustic Journal, Open Material Science Journal, Open Jounal of Civil Engineering.

 

REFEREE

International Journals (Int. J.):

J. of Aerospace Engineering, Int. J. of Fatigue, Int. J. of Acoustic and Vibrations, J. of Mechanics of Materials and Structures, Physical Review B, Physical Review E, Mechanics, Composite Science and Technology, Int. J. Solids and Structures, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Nanotechnology, Journal of Applied Mechanics, European Journal of Mechanics - A/Solids, Thin Solid Films, J. of Sound and Vibration, Physical Review Letters, J. of Physics – Condensed Matter, Europhysics Letters, The European Physical Journal B - Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, J. of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Nano Letters, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, J. of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, Small, Nano Today, Int. J. of Applied Mechanics, Algorithms, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Intermetallics, Surface and Coatings Technology, Int. J. for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Advanced Materials, Microsystem Technologies, Langmiur, ACS NANO, NDT&E Int., J. of Nanotechnology, Nanoscale, Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Composites Part B: Engineering, J. of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications (JEMWA) & Progress in Electromagnetic Research (PIER, PIER B,C,M, PIER Letters), J. of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, Materials Science & Engineering A, Physica E, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Part C): J. of Mechanical Engineering Science, Meccanica, Advanced Biomaterials, Chaos Solitons and Fractals, Int. J. of Materials Research, Computational Materials Science, BioNanoScience, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters, Advanced Functional Materials, Micro & Nano Letters, World J. of Mechanics, Focus Interface, PLoS ONE, Materials Research Society Communications, Nanoscale, Nonlinear Analysis Series B: Real World Applications, Entropy, Physica Status Solidi, plus several Open Journals.

 

Int. Projects:

MiUR, Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca, Programma GALILEO (under payment); Strategic Research funding, Research Committee, c/o Research Grants Office, City University of Hong Kong; Agence Nationale de Recherche, Università Italo Francese; The Leverhulme Trust: Academic Collaboration – International Networks Québec / Internship Administrative Coordinator - Quebec MITACS Inc, ACCÉLÉRATION QUÉBEC; National Science Foundation (NSF); European Research Council Advanced Grant.

 

PUBLICATIONS

About 350 papers published in international journals, international volumes, international or national conference proceedings on Structural-, Solid-, Fracture- Bio- and especially Nano-Mechanics.

About 170 papers published in top level international journals in the material research field (e.g. Nature materials), some of them selected as best paper of the year (e.g. by the Institute of Physics), or highlighted by top level international journals (e.g.  Nature) or discussed by top level international journals (e.g. New Scientist), or covered by national and international televisions, radios and dailies (e.g. BBC News).

About 170 papers presented at international conferences, often presented as top speaker-, plenary-, key- or invited- lectures.

 

FULL LIST AND PDF OF INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL PAPERS @

http://areeweb.polito.it/ricerca/bionanomech/publications.htm

3 SELECTED GENERAL PAPERS:

1. A. Carpinteri, N. Pugno, Are the scaling laws on strength of solids related to mechanics or to geometry? NATURE MATERIALS, June (2005), 4, 421-423.

2. N. Pugno, Space Elevator: out of order?. NANO TODAY  (2007), 2, 44-47.

(see also the related stories in Nature: “The space elevator: going down? Study shows that proposed carbon nanotube cables won't hold up”, News at NATURE, 22 May 2006; “Out of reach”, NATURE 450, 22 November 2007).

3. N. Pugno, Spiderman gloves, NANO TODAY (2008), 3, 35-41.

(See also the related stories in New Scientist: “Gecko power could turn you into a spider”, NEW SCIENTIST, 28 April 2007, 26; “With no visibile means of support”, NEW SCIENTIST, 19 July 2008, 23; “Ten sci-fiction that could soon be in your hands”, NEW SCIENTIST, 26 January, 2009).

 

THE OPINION OF A NOBEL PRIZE WINNER

Prof. H. Kroto, one of the father of the Nanoscience, Nobel Prize Winner 1996, for the discovery of the fullerene (13 November 2009):

“Prof. Nicola Pugno he is recognised internationally as a leading expert in the important field of Structural Mechanics and the Strength of Materials. I met him in Torino in 2004 where we had a detailed discussion on various key aspects of these topics that interested me, particularly the mechanical strength of nanotube bundles. Recently in 2007, he visited my laboratory here in the US to develop ideas further. He has already greatly advanced our basic understanding of fundamental mechanical and dynamic issues in the context of the strength of cables composed of macroscopic nanotubes bundles. In fact his work was picked out by Nature as a highly prestigious “Highlight” indicating the high level of international recognition that his present research work is achieving.

His recent study on the feasibility of a “Spiderman” suit, which at first sight might seem a somewhat fanciful project, is in fact an interesting study of the importance of his work to the development of new materials exhibiting advanced properties. This work was highlighted by the New Scientist as well as by television, radio and daily newspapers (e.g. the Time, BBC, etc.), underlining the fact that he is not only working in a leading area of 21st Century materials, but also one importantly that members of the general public can relate to and find relevant to them.

Prof. Pugno’s overall scientific output is outstanding. In ten years he has produced ca 130 original publications (also as a single author) in leading international journals (e.g. Nature Materials, etc.), and his scientific activity is increasing rapidly in quality and quantity. Consequently, he is now an expert in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and an internationally recognised leader scientist in the field of Nanomechanics.

Prof. Pugno is now recognized worldwide for his studies on bio-inspired multifunctional nanomaterials and his achievements have already impacted on several Italian Companies, in particular in helping to develop next-generation products, e.g. self-cleaning materials.”