the Team

Lect. Dr. -Ing. Nicolae Andrei CRISAN is a lecturer within the Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics department of Politehnica University of Timisoara. He graduated in 2008 from Faculty of Civil Engineering and, in 2011, following a successful Ph.D. thesis defense he was awarded the Dr. -Ing. title. Since graduation, his focus is advanced numerical simulations applied for steel structures in seismic areas and lightweight structures made of cold formed steel. In recent years, BIM has become a big part of his research and, as a consequence, in 2021 the first BIM related course was introduced in a Romanian university. Besides the theoretical background and a BIM specific project, the course offers examples of BIM use cases from industry, presented by companies in an ongoing collaboration. 

Prof. habil. Dr. -Ing. Sorin Ioan HERBAN, professor and Vice dean at Civil Engineering Faculty from Politehnica University Timisoara, has a rich experience in the field of monitoring and landscaping in the urban/rural GIS. Sorin Herban is a Ph.D. coordinator in the Geodesy Engineering domain at Politehnica University Timisoara. The main areas of research and interest include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and 3D modeling of data retrieved through modern technologies such as the terrestrial laser scanner and photogrammetry etc. Throughout his career, he developed and implemented different measuring techniques and methodologies for creating digital models of land and surfaces, reconstruction and representation of artifacts from cultural heritage, Dacian fortresses and engineering structures.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. -Ing. Valentin CIUPE is associate professor within the Department of Mechatronics at Politehnica University Timisoara. He graduated in 2001 from Industrial Robotics and holds a PhD degree since 2006. His research and teaching focus is actuating systems for mechatronics, robotics and industrial control. His current work revolves around developing smart actuators and robotic applications. He also works in providing an educational framework aimed at simulation and creation of lab digital twins for electro-pneumatics, PLCs and robots, by relying on industry-standard, free to use software packages.

Prof. Dr. -Ing. Viorel Ungureanu is Professor of Structural Mechanics at the Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Director of the Research Institute for Renewable Energy of the Politehnica University Timisoara. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Steel Structures of the Romanian Academy, Timisoara Branch. He is engaged in teaching at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level and is a PhD supervisor. Viorel Ungureanu’s main research area is in the field of structural engineering with particular expertise in steel structural members and systems, cold-formed steel structures, structural analysis and stability, numerical modelling, and sustainable constructions. He is the chairman of TC14 for Sustainability and Eco-Efficiency of Steel Construction and a member of the technical committees the TC7 for Cold-formed thin-walled sheet steel in buildings of the European Convention for Constructional Steelwork (ECCS). Viorel Ungureanu is a corresponding member of the Technical Sciences Academy of Romanian (ASTR).

Lect. Dr. -Ing. Maria-Ileana Pop, currently lives and works in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She holds a PhD in civil engineering from the Technical University of Cluj (TUCN) and teaches at the TUCN as a lecturer at the Civil Engineering Faculty at TUCN. In the last 10 years she was a part of several editorial board collectives. She published over 30 papers in conferences around the world, refereed journals, and proceedings. Her main research area is Concrete-Steel Composite Structures and Steel Structures and uses various programs that involve building information modeling. She holds the role of project manager at UTCN for the ERASMUS+ KA2 BIM-LCA, BIM4Energy project. Team member of two national research projects and a member of 3 international projects.

Lect. Dr. -Ing. Tania RUS is a researcher and educator at the Faculty of Building Services Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (UTCN). Her main areas of interest are focused on optimizing building performance, with a particular emphasis on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), and energy efficiency. Dr. Rus is actively involved in research projects addressing critical challenges such as LCA, the transition to net-zero cities, sustainable energy production, and energy efficiency strategies. Her work is committed to creating buildings that are environmentally responsible, energy-efficient, and promote the well-being of occupants.

Lect. Dr. -Ing. Gelu DANKU, currently lives and works in Baia Mare, Romania. He holds a doctoral degree in civil engineering from Politehnica University Timisoara. Currently he teaches at the Technical University in Cluj-Napoca as a lecturer at the Civil Engineering Faculty at TUCN – civil engineering branch in Baia Mare. In the last 10 years he was a part of several editorial board collectives. He published over 20 papers in conferences around the world, refereed journals, and proceedings. 

His main research area is Steel -concrete Composite Structures and Steel Structures. In his research so far, he has used various programs that involve building information modeling. He holds the role of civil engineering branch manager at Baia Mare – as part of UTCN. He has been a team member of three national research projects.

Jun-Prof. Dr. -Ing. Lars Abrahamczyk focuses on the system analysis of structures including derivation of suitable partial models, engineering consideration of coupling and interactions, recording and consideration of extreme and changing load conditions as well as avoidance or evaluation of collapse potential using latest technologies (tools of digital engineering).  

Jun.-Prof. L. Abrahamczyk maintains close contacts with` leading companies in structural engineering within various research projects and has experience in organization of Erasmus+ SP projects as well as multiplier events.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. -Ing. Massimiliano Pepe is Associate Professor in Geomatics at University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy). Graduated with full marks in Civil Engineering at University of Basilicata (Italy). In July 2007 he obtained the Master's Degree in "GIS & Remote Sensing" at the University of Venice IUAV (Italy). In the period 2007-2012 he was technical director of a company specializes in aerial survey and remote sensing working with diverse airborne sensors (optical sensors, Airborne Laser Scanner and Hyperspectral sensors). On February 2014 he successfully defended his PhD dissertation in Geodetic and Topographic Sciences at University of Naples “Parthenope”.  He is author of more than 100 publications in international journals, conference proceedings or book chapters in the field of geomatics.Actually, he is a member of Editorial Board of the Journals: SN Applied Sciences (Springer Nature), Survey Review (Taylor & Francis Online) and Remote Sensing (MDPI) - Section “Remote Sensing and Geo-Spatial Science”. In addition, he is reviewer of numerous scientific Journal. He actively participates in several projects at regional, national and European scales. He is P.I. of a digital project funded by the EU and involving 7 European countries.

Prof. Dr. OLIVA MENOZZI is a professor in Classical Archaeology in Cultural Heritage Studies at the University “G.d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Director of the Archaeological Missions of Chieti University in Libya, Egypt and Cyprus, Director of the CAAM-Centre of the Athenaeum for Archaeometry and Microanalysis of Chieti. She is principal investigator of the European Projects EuroTeCH 2019-2022 (European technologies for Cultural Heritage at risk), PICASP 2020-2024 (Pilot Courses in Practice Enterprise to implement the University-Enterprise Cooperation for the development of Caspian Area for Tourism in Cultural Heritagr), SD@UHZ 2016-2018. Director of the Master STArch (Sciences and Technologies for Archaeology). BA in Classics, Chieti University (June 1990). MSt (1year master) in Classical Archaeology, Oxford University (June 1992). Specialization post-graduate Degree (3 years) in Archaeology, University ‘La Sapienza’ of Rome (April 1995). PhD in Classical Archaeology, Oxford University (1998). PostDoctoral Research Fellowship in Archaeology, Chieti University (1999-2002). Scuba Diving Licence, September 2004, PADI certifications. Member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Frankfurter elektronische Rundschau zur Altertumskunde (FeRA), of Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya, of Libya Antiqua, and of the Balkan Economic Review (BER), as Responsible of the section of Ancient Economy. Director of excavation projects in Italy (Capestrano-Aq, Iuvanum-Ch, Spoltore-Pe, Montepidocchio-Ch), Egypt (Neferhotep Complex-Luxor), Cyprus (Plattias and Agia Marina, Limassol District), Libya (Cyrene necropolis, Ain Hofra-Shahat, Lamluda).

Assist. Prof. Dr. Valentino SANGIORGIO is Assistant Professor (tenure track) in Building Engineering at the University of Chieti-Pescara, the director of the Digital Fabrication Lab (INGEO Department, https://www.ingeo.unich.it/pagina-laboratorio-1863) and the president of the FabLab Bitonto Association (FabLab Poliba, https://www.fablabpoliba.org). He holds a PhD cum laude in Risk and Environmental, Territorial, and Building Development. His research addresses the challenge of digital transformation in the construction sector, focusing on multi-risk analysis and emerging technologies for construction and repair. In this context, he participated in more than 10 European and National research projects including as Principal Investigator. 

To date, Valentino has published 63 research papers in collaboration with international universities such as the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), Universidade do Porto (Portugal), Universidade de Brasília (Brazil), University of New South Wales (Australia) and University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania).  

Assoc. Prof. Dr. -Ing. Antonio Vigueras Rodríguez works in the field of Hydraulic Engineering at Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT) (accredited as Full Professor). With a PhD, with European mention, for the thesis “Modeling of Power Fluctuation in Large Offshore Wind Farms”. He has participated in 35 publicly funded research projects, acting as principal researcher in 4 of them and as Co-PR in another. Additionally, he has been involved in 35 R&D contracts or agreements, acting as PR in 8 of them, mainly in topics related to Hydraulic Engineering or Wind Energy Integration. He has authored 26 publications indexed in JCR, 72 conference publications, and 5 books/book chapters. According to Google Scholar statistics, his h-index is 18 (14 according to publications indexed by Scopus).

He has participated in the review of 16 JCR-indexed journals, such as the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Energies, Applied Energy, Water, and Nature Climate Change. He has supervised two PhD theses.

Assist. Prof. Dr. -Ing. José Manuel Olmos Noguera is teaching at Technical University of Cartagena UPCT since December 2012. He hold a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Madrid since January 2016. He is the first author of 5 articles in JCR - Q1 scientific journals, in the field of dynamic wind-structure-vehicle interaction. He has collaborated with researchers from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto in the field of railway bridge dynamics under turbulent wind conditions. He is a reviewer for 5 JCR Q1 scientific journals. He has participated in 7 R&D projects, three of them European, being the Principal Researcher of a Regional project and Co-Principal Researcher of the three European projects. The topics of these projects range from numerical optimization of bridges to BIM methodology applied to sustainable construction.

He has participated in 5 research contracts with companies and institutions, one of them on BIM-GIS integration for managing construction waste, with knowledge and technology transfer. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in designing building structures, bridges and civil works.