About me

I was born in San Juan, Argentina, a few days after one of the most devastating earthquakes to hit the country. The story goes that my father took me from the crib the instant before a bunch of engineering books crashed it. I spent most of my childhood in the most southern part of my country, close to Ushuaia—the so called city of the end of the world. In 1989, the country was struck by what most people would call the biggest economic crisis of all times. The infamous hyper-inflation forced us to leave Argentina and search for a better life.

I always knew one day I would become an engineer—this was a no-brainer since I come from a family of engineers! In 2001 I obtained the degree of "Ingeniero Civil" from the Universidad Nacional de San Juan. To my surprise, by the end of the program I was ranked 4^th among students from all engineering disciplines, qualifying to become a member of the distinguished Flag Honor Guard. I then worked as a structural engineer for two years in Bolivia, before I was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a MSc degree in USA. I had always been fascinated by earthquakes, and the scholarship would give me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge on earthquake-resistant structural design.

After receiving my MSc degree in 2006, I immediately started my doctorate studies in a project that aimed at creating biomimetic self-healing materials. In the Autonomous Materials Systems group I then worked on the computational design of microvascular materials for self-healing and active-cooling applications. In 2009 I received the Mavis Memorial Scholarship Award for academic excellence and research accomplishments. I obtained my PhD in August 2010, and then I took a postdoctoral appointment with my thesis advisor, Prof. Philippe H. Geubelle. During this postdoctoral appointment, I had the chance to join Philippe in Switzerland, where I would spend the next three years and a half working on computational contact mechanics in a second postdoctorate program with Prof. Jean-François Molinari.

During my MSc studies I got fascinated by enriched finite element methods, a fascination that I carry till today. My PhD program and postdoctorate positions shaped my research profile strongly on numerical methods. My research focuses on the creation of new enriched finite element technology and its application for solving complex engineering problems. I have worked on the design of novel materials and structures, the damage response of complex microstructures, the analysis and design of acoustic metamaterials and phononic crystals.

On method development, my latest efforts revolve around the creation of new enriched finite element formulations for the analysis of problems with discontinuities (for example material interfaces and cracks), which are completely decoupled (unaware) of the finite element mesh. At TU Delft I currently teach two courses on finite element methods: "Advanced Finite Element Methods (ME46050)," and "Enriched Finite Element Methods (ME46080)." These courses not only contain theory on cutting-edge finite element technology, but also delve in the computational aspects for a Python implementation to solve real engineering problems.