Jean-François Molinari

Jean-François Molinari is a Full Professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), directing the Computational Solid Mechanics Laboratory (LSMS) and holding joint appointments in the Civil Engineering Institute and Materials Science Institute. He has worked internationally at Johns Hopkins University, Ecole Normale Supérieure Cachan, and Ecole Polytechnique de Paris.

His research spans damage mechanics, multiscale modeling, tribology, fracture dynamics, and contact mechanics, integrating atomistic to macroscopic scales. Recent work includes

• Physics-informed neural networks for friction
• Dynamic fragmentation in granular media
• Exascale molecular dynamics with adaptive clustering

as seen in his 2024-2025 publications.

He has supervised numerous PhD students in projects related to wear modeling, crack propagation, and multiscale geomechanics. His group develops open-source tools like Tamaas and Akantu, and he contributes to SNSF Research Council and editorial roles.