Salvatore Federico

Salvatore Federico

Positions

Professor

Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Professor

Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Adjunct Professor

Faculty of Kinesiology

Contact information

Phone number

Office: +1-403-220-5790

Location

Office: MEB406

Background

Educational Background

Laurea cum Laude, Mechanical Engineering, Università di Catania, 2000

Doctor of Philosophy, Structural Mechanics, Università di Catania, 2004

Bachelor of Arts, Greek and Roman Studies, with Distinction, The University of Calgary, 2021

Research

Areas of Research

Continuum Mechanics

Continuum Mechanics is the study of matter at a length scale at which the existence of the atomic structure can be neglected, and matter can be treated as continuous rather than discrete. This discipline traces back to the pioneering works of great masters such as Euler, Lagrange and Cauchy and is the "mother" of both Solid Mechanics and Fluid Mechanics. Solids and fluids are in fact governed by the very same kinematics and balance equations, and only differ for the constitutive equations that describe their peculiar mechanical behaviour. In the twentieth century, Continuum Mechanics was greatly revived by means of the advances in Differential Geometry and, today, we speak of Geometric Continuum Mechanics. The group's interest lies in:

  • Geometrical foundations of Continuum Mechanics
  • Theory of elasticity in the non-linear and linear regimes
  • Theory of anelastic processes and material uniformity
  • Theory of porous media
  • Evaluation of the mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced materials
  • Interaction of electromagnetic fields with deformable continuous media
  • Mechanics of active materials
Biomechanics

Biomechanics is the application of Mechanics to biological systems and it can be divided into two large families of topics: the biomechanics of movement and the biomechanics of tissues. Biomechanics of movement focuses on the analysis of human and animal movement, from the acquisition of the kinematics to the determination of the muscle forces that enable a certain movement. Biomechanics of tissues is the application of the Continuum Mechanics of solids and fluids to the study of the mechanical behaviour of biological tissues. The group is interested in:

  • Microstructural constitutive models for soft tissues
  • Articular cartilage modelling
  • Growth and remodelling of biological tissues
  • Continuum modelling of muscle contraction

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
No teaching assignments in Winter 2025 2025-01 - 2025-04, W2025
ENME 653 Advanced Continuum Mechanics 2024-09 - 2024-12, F2024
PHEN 381 Continuum Mechanics I 2024-09 - 2024-12, F2024
BMEN 381 Continuum Mechanics I 2024-09 - 2024-12, F2024
ENGG 202 Engineering Statics 2024-01 - 2024-04, W2024
ENME 317 Mechanics of Solids I 2023-09 - 2023-12, F2023
On Research and Scholarship Leave (Sabbatical Leave) 2023-01 - 2023-04, W2023
On Research and Scholarship Leave (Sabbatical Leave) 2022-09 - 2022-12, F2022
ENME 653 Advanced Continuum Mechanics 2021-09 - 2021-12, F2021
BMEN 525 Biomechanics of Tissues 2022-01 - 2022-04, W2022
BMEN 523 Biomechanics of Movement 2021-09 - 2021-12, F2021

Awards

  • Graduate Teaching Excellence Award, Dept. Mechanical & Manufacturing Eng., The University of Calgary. 2023
  • Inducted as a Corresponding Member, Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, Italy. 2023
  • Inducted as a Scholar, Canadian Society for Biomechanics. 2022
  • Teaching Achievement Award, Schulich School of Engineering, The University of Calgary. 2020
  • Teaching Achievement Award, Schulich School of Engineering, The University of Calgary. 2019
  • Teaching Achievement Award, Schulich School of Engineering, The University of Calgary. 2018
  • Best Paper, KSPE 2015 Meeting, Korean Society for Precision Engineering. 2016
  • Journal of Biomechanical Engineering 2015 Editor's Choice List, American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 2016
  • Teaching Excellence Award, Engineering Student Society, The University of Calgary. 2013
  • Cardiac Physiome Workshop Best Poster Presentation, Cardiac Physiome Society. 2012
  • Departmental Early Research Excellence Award, Schulich School of Engineering, The University of Calgary. 2010
  • ASB Young Scientist Post Doctoral Award, American Society of Biomechanics. 2007

Publications

More Information

Important Information for Prospective Students

Update (July 2024) - My research funds are currently almost entirely allocated. Therefore, I only have limited available funding. However, I will be able to consider students with external funding. All interested students should read carefully the information below.

General Information - As most of my colleagues, I receive several hundreds of emails every year from students seeking for MSc or PhD supervision. It is therefore extremely difficult to answer each and every message, although I do my best to do so. Moreover, some students write mass emails to multiple addressees (the probability for such emails to receive an answer is exactly zero), or have not taken the trouble to find out what type of research I do.

Required Areas of Competence - Students seriously seeking supervision should read carefully my research interests (see the Research section above) and look at some of my publications (see the links in the Publications section above), to have a clear idea of what my research is about. Very strong foundations in Linear Algebra, Differential-Integral-Vector Calculus and Mechanics are an absolute requirement.

Important Note - At the end of the subject of your email, please add the word [fatrane] in square brackets, to show me that you have actually read this page.