Dr. Fadi Dohnal’s combination of academic excellence, professional leadership, and substantial contributions to the field of mechanical engineering makes him an outstanding candidate for the Research for Best Researcher Awards. His innovative work in structural dynamics and rotordynamics, coupled with his commitment to fostering the next generation of engineers, positions him as a leader in his field. Recognizing Dr. Dohnal with this award would honor his contributions and encourage continued excellence in research and education.

Fadi Dohnal holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Dr. techn.) from the Vienna University of Technology, specializing in the damping of self-excited vibrations, which he completed between April 2003 and December 2005. He also earned his Habilitation in Applied Dynamics from the Technical University of Darmstadt in January 2013. Additionally, Dr. Dohnal is a Certified Principal Engineer in Rotordynamics from Alstom Switzerland, obtained in January 2016. His academic journey includes Diploma Studies in Applied Physics (Dipl.-Ing.) at the Vienna University of Technology, where he specialized in simulation and nonlinear dynamics from October 1999 to March 2010, and Diploma Studies in Mechanical Engineering (Dipl.-Ing.) at the same institution, focusing on dynamics and control from October 1996 to October 2001.

Fadi Dohnal currently serves as the Head of the Research Centre Microtechnology at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences, Austria, a position he has held since October 2021, focusing on physics, structural dynamics, and rotordynamics. Prior to this, he was the Scientific Head at the dislocated Campus Technik Lienz, a collaboration between the University of Innsbruck and University UMIT TIROL, from September 2016 to October 2021. His industry experience includes working as a Development Engineering/Principal Engineer in Rotordynamics at Alstom Switzerland from October 2012 to August 2016. Additionally, he was an Assistant Professor in the Structural Dynamics Group at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, from October 2008 to September 2012. Dohnal has also contributed as a Lecturer in Applied Mechanics at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences from October 2009 to February 2011, and as a Marie Curie Experienced Researcher/Senior Researcher at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University of Southampton, UK, focusing on structural dynamics and stochastics from October 2006 to September 2008. He began his academic career as a Visiting Professor at the College of Science and Technology, Nihon University in Tokyo, Japan, from April 2006 to September 2006, and worked as a Project Assistant at the Institute for Mechanics and Mechatronics at the Vienna University of Technology from April 2003 to March 2006.

Fadi Dohnal has served as an Associate Editor for the Archive of Applied Mechanics since 2019 and leads the VDI technical committee on Measurement and Interpretation of Vibrations of Steam and Gas Turbines since 2016. He is also a member of Austrian Standards in vibration engineering and DIN/NALS, specializing in machine dynamics. In 2006, he was awarded a Visiting Professor Scholarship at Nihon University in Tokyo, Japan. Notably, he was recognized as one of the Top 20 Students in Mechanical Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology in 1999 and secured 2nd Place in the Mathematics Olympiad held in Salzburg in 1996.

Publication Top Notes:

• Title: Experimental verification of additively manufactured stacked multi-wedge acoustic black holes in beams for low frequency

  Citations: 5

• Title: Preparation of laser induced periodic surface structures for gas sensing thin films and gas sensing verification of a NiO based sensor structure

  Citations: 1

• Title: AWG-Spectrometer to Analyze Absorption Spectra of Optical Gas Sensors Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser Processing

  Citations: 2

• Title: Dynamic stability of the Mindlin-Reissner plate using a time-modulated axial force

  Citations: 1

• Title: Laser-Tissue Interaction of Pump-Probe Elastography (PPE) on Human Teeth