The excitement obtained by solving complex technical problems for the built environment starting from basic laws of physics is comparable to that experienced as a 5-year old when unwrapping a Santa Claus present.

Akke Suiker obtained his MSc degree in Civil Engineering (Cum laude, 1995) and his PhD degree in Applied Mechanics (Cum Laude, 2002) at the Delft University of Technology. He had 1-year post-doc visits at the University of Massachusetts, U.S.A. and Cambridge University U.K. Since 2012 he is Full Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of the Built Environment, leading the group of Applied Mechanics. Prior to joining TU/e, he held academic positions at Delft University of Technology's Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, serving as Assistant Professor (2001–2008), Associate Professor (2008–2011), and Acting Chair of Computational Mechanics (2008-2011). His research interests relate to micromechanical modeling of failure and deformation of materials and multi-scale and multi-physics modeling of solids. He has published over 90 journal articles in the research fields of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Computational Mechanics, Material Science, and Applied Engineering, and was elected as “Best Lecturer of the Delft University of Technology, 2009-2010”. In addition, he has won 4 awards on graduate teaching excellence and PhD supervision excellence at the Department of the Built Environment of the TU/e. Professor Suiker serves on the editorial boards of several international journals in applied mechanics and has been invited to serve as Guest Editor of Philosophical Magazine (established in 1798) on four occasions. He is a member of the Governing Board of the Netherlands Graduate School on Engineering Mechanics and serves on the Scientific Working Group of the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Art and Science (NICAS). Research reported in several of his publications has led to patented innovations.

Professor Suiker leads the group of Applied Mechanics, where the research focuses on the modelling of failure and deformation behaviour of materials and structures relevant for the built environment. Interactions between mechanical processes and other physical processes (thermal, hygral, chemical, fluid flow, magnetic) are studied, and effects observed at various scales of observation, ranging from the micro- to the macro scale, are coherently included in the modelling strategy. For this purpose, the models are required to be thermodynamically consistent, their numerical discretization is performed with robust and accurate schemes, and their applicability is validated by means of advanced laboratory experiments. When possible, the modelling results are translated towards design graphs useful for engineering practice. This should lead to a thorough insight and understanding of practical problems, and to new and better technical solutions. Recent applications relate to 3D printing, historical paintings and furniture, wind energy turbines, sewer systems, granular materials, among others.