I was born in Geneva, Switzerland and got a BS/MS degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zurich) in materials science in 1986. I then joined as a graduate student the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where I got my Ph.D. in 1991. After a brief postdoc in the group of my Ph.D. adviser (Prof. Andreas Mortensen, now at EPFL, Lausanne, I was hired by MIT's DMSE department as an Assistant Professor and was later promoted to Associate Professor. In 1997, I moved to Northwestern University, where I am currently Professor.
My research focuses on experimental and theoretical studies of the mechanical properties of metallic alloys, composites and foams, and connection of these properties to microstructure and processing.
I also teach a variety of classes, including:
