Dr. Pierre Mertiny, Professor, is the Director of the Research Group. His research and development work has included a variety industrial collaborations, and consulting and technical service activities, primarily in the field of polymer and polymer composite materials and structures for conventional and renewable energy sector applications. He has been invited on several occasions as a Visiting Professor to the Technische University Munich (Germany). In addition to R&D, Dr. Mertiny is dedicated to excellence in teaching, especially in the areas of solid mechanics and engineering design. In this context he received the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, a McCalla Professorship as well as a Vargo Teaching Chair by the University of Alberta, and the Summit Award for Excellence in Education by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).
Dr. Fernand Ellyin, Professor Emeritus and past holder of the 1997 TCPL(Nova)/NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Advanced Pipeline Materials, founded the Advanced Composite Materials Engineering group in 1996. His research interests include the experimental study of micro and macro mechanical properties, numerical and theoretical modelling of inelastic material behaviour, fatigue damage mechanisms and life prediction methodology
Dr. Zihui Xia, Professor Emeritus, has been conducting research covering a wide range in solid and applied mechanics and material engineering. His main research areas are: Experimental characterisation and theoretical prediction of mechanical properties of materials, especially under multiaxial loading conditions and for advanced engineering materials; Development of constitutive models for different types of materials (elasto-plasticity, viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity); Study of mechanisms and modeling of damages, and fatigue life prediction for engineering materials. The materials studied include metals and alloys, polymers, metal matrix composites and fiber reinforced polymeric composites.