Manfred Zehn

NAFEMS Vice-Chair

From an early age, my mother told me I knew what I wanted to be: an engineer. Some years later, I graduated in Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Mechanics from Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, received my doctorate in 1981 in Structural Dynamics, and obtained my habilitation in Engineering Mechanics in 1989. In the mid-1970s, while at Otto-von-Guericke University, I became involved in structural dynamic research based on FEM.

Since my graduation, I have spent over 25 years in FE code development, research, and consulting for various industries. In 1990, I was one of the founders of FEMCOS Ltd, a consultancy and research company in FEA and engineering simulation, involved to a large extent in industrial problems. I have been a professor at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, at Technische Universität Chemnitz, and full professor for structural and computational mechanics at the renowned Technische Universität Berlin, and director of the Institute of Mechanics. I have been teaching in subjects associated with engineering mechanics/structural mechanics and dynamics. I was a member of a number of engineering bodies, among them the National Reactor Safety Commission. My principal areas of research are structural mechanics and structural dynamics, fast FE algorithms, modal analysis, composites, etc.

My first interest in NAFEMS goes back to the late eighties. I was so enthusiastic about NAFEMS that I went to the (at that time) National Engineering Laboratory in East Kilbride, Scotland, to meet Bill Mair, the then first Chief Executive of NAFEMS. From that time on, I became a committed and keen supporter of the NAFEMS mission. Since 1993, I have served on the German Steering Committee of NAFEMS, and in 1999 I became a member of the NAFEMS Council, where I have contributed to the setting of new strategic directions and the promotion of NAFEMS. I have been Vice-Chairman of NAFEMS since being elected in 2004.