Alexander Popp

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Popp is a Full Professor of Computer-Based Simulation at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany, where he also serves as Vice Dean of the Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences. Additionally, he is the Vice Director of the DLR Institute for the Protection of Terrestrial Infrastructures in Sankt Augustin, Germany. His academic career spans prestigious institutions including TU Munich, Columbia University, and The University of Tokyo, demonstrating his international recognition in computational mechanics.

Professor Popp's research spans the entire field of computational mechanics and numerical analysis, with a particular focus on computational contact dynamics, solid and structural dynamics, and multiphysics problems. His work encompasses fluid-structure interaction, non-conforming discretization methods, tribology, and computational plasticity. More recently, he has expanded his research into digital twins for critical infrastructure protection and biomedical applications, particularly in cardiovascular mechanics and stent graft modeling for endovascular repair. His group develops advanced finite element formulations for beams and shells, isogeometric analysis, and integrates machine learning techniques with traditional computational methods.

Professor Popp has received numerous prestigious awards including the O.C. Zienkiewicz Award for Young Scientists from ECCOMAS (2018), the Top Teaching Trophy of the Munich School of Engineering (2018), and the ZD.B Junior Research Group Award (2017). His research is supported by significant funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and industry partners. He leads several major research projects including "AutoStent - An autonomous design assistant for aneurysm repair" and "Combination of data- and physics-based methods for hybrid digital twins" through the dtec.bw research center.

As a leader in the computational mechanics community, Professor Popp serves on multiple editorial boards including Scientific Reports (Springer Nature) and Advanced Modeling and Simulation in Engineering Sciences. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Theoretical, Computational and Applied Mechanics and will serve as Co-Chairman for the 17th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM) and ECCOMAS Congress in 2026. His laboratory, the Institute for Mechanics of Components and Systems (IMCS), focuses on bridging fundamental research with real-world applications in civil engineering, infrastructure protection, and biomedical engineering.