José Dominguez Abascal

José Dominguez Abascal was born in Seville, Spain in November 1953. He obtained his Mechanical Engineering degree in 1975 and his Ph.D. in 1977 both at the University of Seville. He was a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton while he worked in his Ph.D. Thesis during 1976, and Postdoctoral Fulbright Scholar and Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1977 to 1978. In 1981 he became Associate Professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) at age 27, and became Full Professor in the Structural Engineering Department of the University of Seville in 1982 and continued in this position through 2004. During that time, he served as Vice-Rector (1990-1992) and Dean of Engineering (1993-1998) at this University.

José Domínguez has been academic advisor for many researchers in Spain many of them now working in different universities in the field of Computational Methods in Engineering. His main fields of interest are: computer methods in engineering, seismic design of large structures such as dams, bridges and electrical power plants, and structural integrity of anisotropic and piezoelectric materials. He is author of two books published in USA and UK, one of then translated into Japanese, and more than two hundred papers, most of then published in well known international journals. He has been consultant for structural design of relevant structures as the Palenque for EXPO’92 in Seville, the soccer stadium of Real Betis and the Chapina Bridge, both also in Seville. He was responsible for the structural integrity in the restoration of the large S. XVI 3m high bronze sculpture “El Giraldillo” located at the top of the tower of the Cathedral of Seville.

He is an elected member of the Academia Europaea, in the section of Physics and Engineering, and of the Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias. He is Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). In 2004, he received the National Engineering Research Award “Leonardo Torres Quevedo” from HRH King Juan Carlos, and in 2006, the National Cultural Heritage Restoration Award, shared with the restoration team of “El Giraldillo” from the Spanish Minister of Culture. He is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals published in USA and UK.

From May 2004 to May 2008, he served as the General Secretary for Universities, Research and Technology in the regional government of Andalusia, where he has been responsible for the University and R&D&I policy within the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise. During this time he was president of numerous committees, the Andalusian Foundation for Aeronautical Development and the companies Talentia and Citandalucia.

Since May 2008 he has been Chief Technological Officer of Abengoa a company with more than 20.000 employees, which has business in more than seventy countries. The company works in the fields of renewable energy, IT, environmental services and construction.