Professor John Botsis obtained his diplôme in civil engineering at the University of Patras, Greece, in 1979.  He continued his education at Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio/USA, where he received his MS and Ph.D. 1984. After two years at the Research Center for National Defense in Athens, he was nominated assistant professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, associate in 1991, and full professor in 1995. In 1996, he was nominated professor of solids and structural mechanics at the EPFL. His activities cover experimental mechanics, fracture, and fatigue of advanced materials, including composites and biomaterials, using novel experimental techniques, numerical methods, and micromechanics. He has co-authored more than 150 journal papers, several book chapters, and two textbooks. His research has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the State Secretariat for Education and Research, the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation, the EU, and Swiss industry.