Ahmed Elbanna

Ahmed Elbanna is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), affiliated with the Grainger College of Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. from Caltech (2011) and has been on UIUC faculty since 2013. His research focuses on mechanics of complex systems, including earthquake dynamics, metamaterials, and biomaterials. He has received prestigious awards such as the NSF CAREER Award (2018) and the Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Fellowship (2020).

Education:

• Ph.D. Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology (2011)
• M.S. Applied Mechanics, California Institute of Technology (2006)
• M.S. Structural Engineering, Cairo University (2005)
• B.S. Civil Engineering, Cairo University (2003)

Research Interests: Elbanna’s work spans theoretical and applied mechanics, with emphasis on fracture, wave propagation, and critical phenomena in geophysical and biological systems. Key areas include:

• Earthquake mechanics and granular matter dynamics
• Mechanical metamaterials for wave control
• Networked biological materials (e.g., bone, hydrogels)
• Modeling epidemic dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Awards & Recognition:

• National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2018)
• Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Fellow (2020)
• Journal of Applied Mechanics Award (2019)
• UIUC Teaching Excellence Awards (2018–2024)

Service & Leadership:

• Member of the UIUC Faculty Senate (2020–present)
• Co-Chair, Computational Mechanics Committee (ASCE EMI, 2024–present)
• Leader, Computational Science Group at Southern California Earthquake Center (2019–present)

Labs & Groups: Leads the Mechanics of Complex Systems Lab at UIUC, focusing on interdisciplinary research in geophysics, materials science, and computational modeling.