Plenary Speakers

Professor Weiqiu Chen

Zhejiang University, China

Weiqiu Chen is the Qiushi Distinguished Professor at the Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University. He has engaged himself in mechanics of smart materials/structures, mechanics of soft materials and structures, and vibration/waves in structures for more than thirty years. He has co-authored 500+ peer-reviewed journal articles, three English monographs and two Chinese monographs, receiving 15000+ citations from other researchers according to Web of Science. He now serves as the editorial member (or associate editor or associate editor-in-chief) of more than a dozen of academic journals including International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, Journal of Thermal Stresses, Journal of Zhejiang University – SCIENCE A, Aerospace Research Communications, Nano Micro Mechanics Review, Composite Structures, Engineering Structures, Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, and Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (English Edition).

Professor Bogdan Epureanu

University of Michigan, USA

Bogdan Epureanu is the Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, and has a courtesy appointment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. With a background in nonlinear dynamics, during his tenure of more than 22 years at the University of Michigan, he pioneered interdisciplinary research directions enhancing aircraft safety and performance, early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, and forecasting tipping points in engineered and physical systems such as disease epidemics and ecology. As Director of the Automotive Research Center he leads research in control and teaming of autonomous vehicles, human-autonomous vehicle interactions, high performance structures and materials, intelligent power systems, fleet operations, and vehicle system of systems integration. He published more than 200 papers in leading peer-reviewed journals and he is the Editor-in-Chief of the ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics. Among others, he is the recipient of the Myklestad Award, the Dedicated Service Award – ASME Design Engineering Division, 1938E Award, Monroe-Brown Foundation Research Excellence Award, Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award, and he is an ASME Fellow.

Professor Mike Jeffrey

University of Bristol, UK

Mike Jeffrey is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, University of Bristol. He is a mathematical physicist by training, have obtained his PhD working in singular optics under Sir Michael Berry, before becoming interested in extending such ideas to modern applications in engineering and biology. He worked briefly at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Bath, but for 13 years has been in the Department of Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol, where he is now a Professor of Applied Mathematics. He is best known for his work on dynamical systems with discontinuities, and introducing the idea of Hidden Dynamics of switching. More recently he has been drawn back to catastrophe theory and its general application throughout engineering and biology, through the new concept of underlying catastrophes.

Professor Jamie Paik

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Jamie Paik, Director and Founder of the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is pioneering the field of human-adaptive robotic systems. Her groundbreaking work in self-morphing robots represents a paradigm shift in how robots can naturally integrate into human environments. At RRL, she leads interdisciplinary research combining innovative design, advanced manufacturing, and intelligent control systems to create robots that transform their physical architecture in response to human needs. Her lab's developments have revolutionized applications across medical assistance, automotive interfaces, space exploration, and wearable technology, with research featured in Nature, Science, and IEEE Transactions in Robotics. This impact extends to industry through RRL's technology integration into Mercedes' concept car Avatar, demonstrating how transformable robotics can enhance human-machine interfaces in everyday scenarios.

Professor Marcelo Savi

University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Marcelo A. Savi is Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE - Mechanical Engineering), being the Head of the Center for Nonlinear Mechanics. He has published over 550 journal and conference papers, 5 books and about 15 book chapters. He is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024-present), serving as Associate Editor of journals as International Journal of Mechanical Sciences (2018-present), Journal of Vibration and Control (2017-present), and being member of the Executive Editorial Board of the Smart Materials and Structures (2025-present). Research interests are related to nonlinear mechanics where it should be highlighted smart material and structures; nonlinear dynamics, chaos and control; biomechanics and ecology.

12TH EUROPEAN NONLINEAR

DYNAMICS CONFERENCE 2027