Ignaas Verpoest

Department of Materials Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Prof. Ignaas Verpoest got a Masters Degree (1972) and a PhD-degree (1982) in Materials
Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). As a full professor
(from 1990 till 2013) he was guiding a group which consisted (average of last 5
years) of 8 postdoc researchers and 25 PhD-students, carrying out research in the
areas of mesomechanics of (textile based) composites, nano-engineered composites,
natural fibre reinforced (bio)polymers and advanced production methods for composites.
He is the author of more then 310 journal papers, about 500 conference
papers and 3 books, and holds 15 patents. Since September 2013, Prof. Verpoest is
emeritus professor at KU Leuven. Prof. Verpoest is holder of the Toray Chair in Composite Materials at KU Leuven,
and chairman of the European Scientific Committee of CELC, the European Confederation on Flax and Hemp. He
was President of the European Society for Composite Materials (ESCM), and of the International Committee on
Composite Materials (ICCM). He was chairman of the materials research Centre at KU Leuven, and is member of
the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Art. Prof. Verpoest won several awards, amongst others
the Descartes Prize for Science Communication of the European Commission (2004), the International Fellowship
of the Society for the Advancement of Materials Processing and Engineering (SAMPE, 2009) and of the International
Committee on Composite Materials (ICCM,2009). In 2014, he was awarded the ‘Medal of Excellence
in Composite Materials’ of the University of Delaware (USA). He is also co-founder and board member of the
company Econcore, worldwide producer of innovative honeycomb cores.

Gerd Wingefeld
SGL CARBON SE, Germany

Dr. Gerd Wingefeld has been a member of the SGL Carbon SE Board of Management
since October 1, 2008. As Chief Technology Officer he is responsible for Technology &
Innovation, Environment, Health & Safety Affairs (EHSA), Purchasing, SGL Excellence
and Engineering. Dr. Wingefeld was born on January 21, 1958 in Giessen. After finishing
his Masters degree in Chemistry at the Giessen University, he also obtained his
PhD there in 1984. His career began with research projects focused on materials at the
Hoechst AG Research Center at the end of 1984. After assuming different responsibilities
within Celanese, which split off from Hoechst AG, he moved to SGL Group in 2002 where he first worked in
various international management functions in the fields of production as well as technology development. Before
he joined the Board of Management of SGL Carbon SE in 2008 he was responsible for the Business Unit Graphite
Specialties and the Business Area Graphite Materials & Systems. Dr. Wingefeld is married and has two children.

Thomas Wolff
Technology Development CFRP, BMW AG, Germany

Dr.-Ing. Thomas Wolff studied Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University with
plastics processing as major subject. From 1995 to 2000 he was on the scientific staff
at the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University. Dr. Wolff joined
the BMW Group in 2000 as CAE engineer in the Exterior Development Department.
After managing different predevelopment projects and series projects Dr. Wolff was
member in the project i team since 2008. During the following 4 years he was responsible
for the i3 exterior technology development and the setup of the production system.
2012 Dr. Wolff became head of exterior projects at the exterior inhouse production.
Since 2014 he is head of the CFRP technology development department.

Christian Weimer
AIRBUS Group, Germany

Since more than two decades Dr. Christian Weimer has done research in the field
of carbon fibre reinforced composites. He started at the University of Sydney and
the Institute for Composite Materials (IVW) covering topics such as preforming and
stitching technologies. In 2003 he joined Airbus Helicopters to become team leader
and senior expert in new composite production technologies. At Airbus Group Innovations
Dr. Weimer is currently Head of Domain Composites Materials & Process
leading research for the different Airbus Divisions, including commercial aircraft,
helicopters as well as defence and space. Being application driven Dr. Weimer is
actively promoting entrepreneurship. In scientific terms Dr. Weimer is looking back
to 20 years of research in the field of composite technologies, leading to more than 50 international presentations
and publications. Several of his more than 25 patent applications have found its way into application.

The ESCM Award

Juan J. Vilatela

MDEA Materials Institute, Madrid, Spain

Dr. Juan J. Vilatela has a BSc in Physics Engineering from UIA, Mexico (2005) and a PhD from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy of the University of Cambridge (2009). In 2011 he founded the Multifunctional Nanocomposites Group (http://www.materials.imdea.org/groups/mng/) at IMDEA Materials Institute. His group’s work is largely focused on the development of macroscopic materials made up of nanobuilding blocks in a way that the unique properties at the nanoscale are preserved through the assembly process and a new generation of high-performance engineering materials is produced. Dr. Vilatela was involved in early developments of a process to make continuous macroscopic fibres made up of CNTs, at Cambridge. Later he took part in the transfer of this technology to industry. His more recent work includes studying hierarchical structures by advanced X-ray techniques, reinforcement at multiple length-scales and the electrochemical interactions of CNT fibres with liquids and polymers. Dr. Vilatela’s research has helped establish the unique combination of properties of CNT fibres, particularly for multifunctional composites that can store energy or have sensing functions. He is the author of around 36 papers (> 850citations), 6 patents (2 industrially exploited) and has been awarded the “Juan de la Cierva” and “Ramón y Cajal” fellowships by the Spanish Ministry of Economics. He has coordinated several European projects, industrial contracts (e.g. Airbus) and is currently the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant to develop structural energy harvesting composite materials. Since 2014 he is an associate lecturer at the Carlos III University.