INVITED SPEAKERS AND SPECIAL GUESTS

Michael May studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Stuttgart. For his diploma thesis he was a visiting researcher at Cranfield University and worked on the development of high-rate test methods for composite delamination.

He then joined the University of Bristol working on his PhD on testing and modeling of fatigue damage initiation in composite materials. Since 2010, Michael May has been working at the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut EMI in Freiburg, where his main research interests were in the development of experimental und numerical methods for analysis of the high-rate response of composite materials and adhesively bonded joints. His current positions at EMI are Director of the Main Division “Resilience, Safety, and Security” and Head of Business Unit “Aviation”. He serves as a member of the Governing Board of the “Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking”, where he represents the European RTOs. Michael May is an adjunct professor at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, where he teaches “Composite materials” for the Master Class in Sustainable Systems Engineering. In 2019 and 2020 he was a visiting professor at the University of Girona, teaching “Dynamics of materials”. Michael May is currently a member of the editorial board of the “Journal of Dynamic behavior of Materials”. In 2023, Michael May was listed amongst the top 2% of the scientists worldwide, for both, the current year and his lifetime achievement.

• Double MSc degree from UTC (Université de Technologie Compiègne, France) and TU Braunschweig (Germany) in mechanical and aeronautical engineering.
• Engineer at the stress and loads analysis department at Dassault Aviation since 2007.
• Strong experience in non-linear dynamic calculations related to emergency situations (ditching, crash, impacts, bird strike…) for both metallic and composite structures, and dynamic landing loads.
• Participation and lead of various research and collaborative French and European projects.
• Involved in the design and certification process of the recent Falcon programs F7X/F8X and F6X for vulnerability problematic.
• Currently head of the methods and sizing criteria team in charge of :
  • Elaboration of material characteristics and sizing criteria through experimental campaigns and numerical analyses.
  • Development and improvement of new methods and tools in particular in the field of non-linear and dynamic analyses.