Research on sustainable fibre composites awarded Professor Libo Yan receives the IIFC Distinguished Young Researcher Award 2021
The international professional organisation for fibre-reinforced materials, the International Institute for FRP (Fibre-reinforced polymer) in Construction (IIFC), has awarded Professor Libo Yan, PhD, with the IIFC Distinguished Young Researcher Award 2021. Libo Yan is a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut WKI and teaches at Technische Universität Braunschweig at the Institute for Building Materials, Solid Construction and Fire Protection. Yan receives the award for his contributions to the application of FRP composites in building infrastructure and in particular to the promotion of natural FRP composites.
“I am very happy to receive this award,” says award winner Prof. Libo Yan. “This is an important milestone in my academic career. I will continue to research sustainable bio-FRP composites in construction and other fields with great motivation. It is important for me to emphasise that this award would not have been possible without the support and help of Professor Kasal and my colleagues in the ZELUBA® department at the Fraunhofer WKI and the Division of Organic and Wooden Based Materials, Institute of Building Materials, Concrete Construction and Fire Safety at TU Braunschweig. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to them.”
Professor Libo Yan teaches at Technische Universität Braunschweig as an “Adjunct Professor” at the Institute of Building Materials, Concrete Construction and Fire Safety in the Division of Organic and Wooden Based Materials. In addition to this activity, Professor Yan develops new topics at the Fraunhofer WKI as a Senior Scientist. His research focuses on hybrid structural and material systems, organic and inorganic building materials and wood-based materials, fibre- and textile-reinforced polymer and cement composites, impact strength and dynamic properties of structures, recycled concrete, and the durability of building and materials.
Since 2018, he has already been leading the junior research group at the Fraunhofer WKI and TU Braunschweig and has recently become the scientific head of the department “Center for Light and Environmentally-Friendly Structures ZELUBA®”.
About the award
The Distinguished Young Researcher Award was established by the IIFC Council in 2006 and is awarded by the IIFC Honours Committee. The IIFC Honours Committee jury consists of a group of internationally renowned scholars from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (People’s Republic of China) and the USA. They include two past IIFC Presidents, the current IIFC President, and Fellows from the Royal Society of Canada, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the IIFC, the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
The award is given to an IIFC member who is not older than 40 years in the year in which the respective official CICE conference of the IIFC takes place and who distinguishes himself/herself from his/her colleagues by research contributions in the field of FRP composites for civil engineering. The award is presented every second year. In addition, Professor Libo Yan was awarded the IIFC Best PhD Thesis Award in 2016 in the global competition organised by the IIFC. The IIFC is the only international professional organisation dedicated to the use of fibre composites in building infrastructure. The IIFC was founded in 2003 and has members from academia and industry from 34 countries on six continents. The IIFC’s mission is to promote the understanding and application of FRP composites in structural infrastructure in the service of the engineering profession and society.