Barbara Rossi (engineer)

Barbara Rossi is a Belgian Associate Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow of New College, Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Her research focuses on the design and the life-cycle assessment of metallic structures. Prior to holding this position, she was an Associate Professor of Engineering Technology at KU LeuvenKU Leuven in Belgium. In 2022, she was awarded the status of ICE Carbon Champion by the Institution of Civil Engineers.Institution of Civil Engineers She is a member of two working groups of the CEN TC 250 SC3 on structural stainless steel and fatigue, and the co-author of the Design Manual for Structural Stainless Steel.
==Early life and education==
Born in Belgium, Rossi was influenced by the area’s long-standing history of steel production, and by her parents’ profession as mathematicians. She received her undergraduate education at ULiege where she studied under Professor René Maquoi - who has received several national and international awards, including the Gold Medal Gustave Trasenster and the 2013 Lynn S.Beedle Award from the Structural Stability Research Council. She graduated in 2003. For her master thesis, Rossi received two prizes: “Prix Arcelor à l’Innovation 2003” and “Prix Acier Etudiants”.
==Career==
In 2003, Rossi joined ArcelorMittal as a research engineer where she developed long-span composite floors. In 2005, she was appointed research fellow of the National Fund for Scientific Research and completed her PhD in 2009, on the structural behaviour of stainless steel thin-walled profiles, under the guidance of Professors Jacques Rondal and Serge Cescotto. For her PhD thesis, she was awarded two prizes: “Prix Scientifique aux Jeunes 2010” and “Prix des Amis de l'Université de Liège 2010”. During her PhD, she also acquired the Rotary International District 1630 and Foundation Margareta Van Beneden grants. She then completed two research stays at the University of Sydney with Professor Kim J.R. Rasmussen and Imperial College London with Professor Leroy Gardner.
As a post-doctoral researcher from the National Fund for Scientific Research, she was the principal investigator in a national interuniversity project and a European Research Fund for Coal and Steel project, focusing on the strength of hot cross-sections with Jean-Pierre Jaspart and cold-formed stainless steel profiles with Professor Leroy Gardner and Professor Sheida Afshan.
In 2013, Rossi was appointed Assistant Professor at KU Leuven, leading a research group focusing on the development of less conservative design guidance for metallic structures and whole life-cycle assessment of metallic structures, with a special interest in stainless steel and harsh environments. In 2014, Rossi secured funding to set-up and maintain a new laboratory at KU Leuven.
In 2019, Rossi was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow of New College. Her core research areas expanded to the study of hybrid (e.g., carbon steel welded to stainless steel) structures in very harsh environments (e.g., open ocean, wastewater, nuclear applications) and structures made by wire-arc additive manufacturing, under fatigue. Her group is supported by government and industrial funding. She was principal investigator in the National Fund for Scientific Research projects on DuplexWaste and Duramech, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions scheme, and the Interreg Socorro project.
Rossi has held the positions of co-chair of the European Convention for Constructional Steelwork – TC14 –Technical Committee for Sustainability and Eco-Efficiency of Steel Construction and Belgian representative at European Action COST C25 "Sustainability of Constructions: Integrated Approach to Life-time Structural Engineering".
Over the years, she has been a member of organizing or scientific committees, and invited keynote speaker at various international conferences and expert seminars such as Intergalva 2015, EGGA 2019, Meeting Minds Global 2021, Construir’Acier 2021, International Conference on Structural Engineering 2022, International Stainless Steel Expert Seminar 2022, and the UK Science Council Climate Conference 2022.
Since 2021, Rossi has held the position of Equality and Diversity fellow at New College, Oxford.
Rossi is the first professor to have designed and taught an undergraduate course on the use of stainless steel in structures.
==Research==
Rossi’s contribution to the research of metallic materials and structures spans over a decade. Through her membership within two Eurocode Groups, some of her main project outputs on the strength of cold-formed stainless steel profiles and fatigue of hot-dip galvanized welded structures were used as the basis to modify Eurocode 3 part 1-4 in 2020, and part 1-9 in 2021.
Since 2021, Rossi has led the Sustainable Metal Structures Research Group at the University of Oxford, which focusses on the role of metals in structures to improve sustainability within the construction sector. Her team studies materials such as high strength steel, stainless steel, and aluminium used in structures such as bridges, wind turbines, radioactive waste disposal facilities, and wastewater treatment plants. Advanced analytical and computational analysis are combined with experiments to perform both fundamental and applied research. Experiments on structures or part thereof are conducted in the Sustainable Metal Structures Laboratory, at Begbroke Science Park.
In 2021, Rossi collaborated on the Gradel Quadrangles project in Oxford, submitting a Carbon Champion case-study to the Institute of Civil Engineers, on the sustainability and lifecycle of the building, which awarded her the status of Carbon Champion.
In 2022, Rossi presented evidence in British Parliament on the recyclability and durability of steel, in response to the Environmental Audit Select Committee’s invitation to submit written evidence. The evidence focused on two topics: ‘the technologies there are to produce “green steel”; how close they are to commercialisation; and the benefits and risks of each’, and ‘the desirability or otherwise of establishing a low-carbon steelmaking pilot at a UK site.’
In 2022, she worked with the Science Museum, London, developing events on STEM research, climate change, and sustainability.
Rossi has participated in podcasts and interviews on the topic of green steel, of which she has dedicated a large part of her career and research. Particular issues Rossi has highlighted within these contexts are the current challenges faced by the industry to keep ahead of international competition, misuse of domestic scrap, and lobbying from the concrete industry.
==Personal life==
Rossi is married to Dr. Fabien Poncelet and gave birth to her son in 2017. She has performed within the renowned Belgian theatre troop, Le Grandgousier, for over a decade.
Category:Belgian engineers
Category:Belgian people