Scientific staff

"After my graduation in 2019 as a Civil Engineer, I started a PhD in Hydraulics, under Prof. Sandra Soares-Frazão's supervision. My thesis aims at developing a 2D finite-volume model capable of simulating transient flows laden with important quantities of sediments. Beside programming, experimental validation of this model in the LEMSC laboratory will also be an important part of my thesis. Eventually, my model could help optimize dam-flushing operations and limit their downstream morphological consequences. Furthermore, I am also in charge of supervising master students' projects in Numerical Simulation of Transient Flows during the first quadrimester."

Igor graduated in 2019 from UClouvain as a Civil Engineer. His MSc thesis was about the optimization of tensegrity footbridges submitted to random loads. His main fields of interest are numerical simulations, optimization and non-linear behaviour of structures. He is currently a research assistant in the department of structures inside GCE, where he mainly gives some lectures in the field of structural mechanics, stability of structures and structural dynamics.

Mustafa is conducting a PhD in geotechnical engineering under supervision of Prof. Alain Holeyman with the topic: “Numerical and experimental investigation of monopile driving resistance in carbonate rocks”. He has received a UCLouvain fellowship. He obtained his Master’s degree with honors from Polytech Nantes in 2016. He was awarded the “Bourses du gouvernement français” in 2014. He was also awarded the Fulbright fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State in 2015. He received his bachelor’s degree from Kabul University with honors in 2011. He was the third position holder of the national university entrance exam of Afghanistan in 2007. He has been involved in the management of infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.
He speaks Persian, English, and French. He likes badminton, table tennis and biking.

Jonas graduated in Civil Engineering in 2016 from UCLouvain. His MSc thesis, awarded by the Innovation Alumni Award@EPL, aimed at trying to show the feasibility of a new type of footbridge in tensegrity thanks to an optimization method based on morphological indicators. During his work-and-travel one year-journey in Australia, he crossed the only bridge built in pseudo-tensegrity (Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane) which deeply motivated him to continue his thesis as a PhD with prof. Pierre Latteur. After working one year as a Junior Structural Engineer for BESIX, he received the Applied PhD grant from Innoviris in January 2019. Since then, he is conducting the tensegrity bridge research project in partnership between BESIX and UCLouvain. He also regularly windsurfs and plays badminton.

Mohamed graduated with honors from ECAM Brussels Engineering School in 2015. He worked nearly 5 years as a geotechnical engineer for Franki Foundations Belgium. He is currently working as a design engineer for Greisch and conducting a PhD in geotechnical engineering under the supervision of Prof. Holeyman. His research focuses on the effect of anomalies on the static behavior of piles. In 2019, Mohamed was selected by the professional jury of “Youth Belgian Forum for Geotechnics” for his paper contribution “Pile conception in the pyritic black shale”. Since 2016, Mohamed is also a member of the GBMS (Belgian Association for Soil Mechanics). He likes running, reading and traveling.

José Fernando graduated in 2016 from EIA University as a civil engineer and in 2018 as master of science from EAFIT University (Medellin, Colombia). His research interests focus primarily on Earthquake Engineering. His bachelor thesis addressed the economic assessment of base-isolated hospital structures from estimations of damage indexes obtained from dynamic analyses. His master thesis dealt with the out-of-plane capacity of unreinforced masonry walls through shake table tests, in which he participated. He is currently a full time PhD student at UCLouvain with prof. Almeida as a supervisor, where he studies alternative damping modelling approaches for non-linear time history response, and their influence on the development of fragility curves used in seismic risk, for low-to-moderate seismicity regions. He also participates in several teaching activities at GCE and collaborates in the supervision of MSc students.

Haythem graduated as a civil engineer with honors from “Ecole National d'Ingénieurs de Tunis” in 2015. He was employed as a teaching assistant at UCLouvain- iMMC- EPL. He is pursuing a PhD under the supervision of prof. Alain Holeyman with the topic “Bearing capacity of shallow and deep foundations in rock mass: Analytical and experimental investigations”. He published 3 articles in international geotechnical journals. He also published 2 conference papers, one of which was selected by the Board of the Belgian Member Society of ISSMGE (BGGG-GBMS) to represent Belgium at the EYGEC 2019 in Turkey. Haythem speaks Arabic, French, English and Spanish (un poco ;-) ).

"I graduated from the UClouvain as a civil engineer in 2016 and I started that year as a research assistant, working on new structural solutions for multi-storeys timber buildings, hand in hand with the company MOBIC, and under the supervision of Prof. Pierre Latteur. I am now both working as a research and development engineer for the company Imax Pro (which designs innovative robot solutions for the wood industry), and as a PhD student, supervised by Prof. Pierre Latteur. The aim of my research project is to develop tools for the parametric design, the calculation and the robotic fabrication of reciprocal structures composed of tree trunks."

Masoumeh Ebrahimi is a visiting researcher at UCLouvain dealing with numerical and experimental modelling of earthen embankments' breaching process under the supervision of Prof. Sandra Soares-Frazão starting from January 2020. Masoumeh graduated with a B.Sc. in Civil engineering (1st Class Honors) from Persian Gulf University in Bushehr, Iran in 2014. Later, she received a M.Sc. degree with a major in Coastal, Port and Offshore Structures Engineering from the University of Tehran with the highest distinction in 2016. Her master thesis title was “Case Study analysis to select the Appropriate Technology to Install Intake and Outfall Pipeline in Iran’s southern coasts” supervised by Professor Ali Fakher. She conducted both analytical and numerical studies to determine the most suitable method for that purpose in several national projects through developing an integrated design and analysis environment. Besides her master's dissertation, she led voluntarily research on longshore sediment transport under Prof. Badiei advising which ended to a paper and shape her curiosity for further research. After graduation she had been working firstly as a consultant engineer in a local company and later as a project supervisor at PGC on an ongoing project, Lian Desalination Plant, in Bushehr which will supply the drinking water of the whole city in a few years.