Dr. Cristoforo Demartino, from Italy, is a Researcher and Assistant Professor in the Zhejiang University-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (ZJU-UIUC) Institute, and an Adjunct Faculty of UIUC. He joined ZJUI in June 2019 and engaged in scientific research and teaching in bridge engineering, structural engineering, wind engineering, earthquake engineering and structural dynamics. Before that, he had carried out post-doc scientific research tasks of engineering structure and bridge engineering for 5 years at Sapienza University of Rome and Nanjing Tech University.
As a young scholar in the field of structure engineering, he has made great progress and pursued excellence in the gradual accumulation. Up to now, he has published more than 100 papers, including more than 50 papers in international authoritative journals and 55 papers from international high-level conferences. His papers have been cited more than 630 times in the Scopus database, with the H index reaching 13; 750 citations in Google Scholar, with an H index of 15. At the same time, Dr. Cristoforo Demartino was invited to be the keynote speaker for more than 20 times and served as the reviewer of more than 50 international journals.
A companion instructor: listen attentively and guide patiently
Y-team, a student team jointly guided by Assist Prof. Demartino and Prof. XIAO Yan of ZJUI, was successfully shortlisted for the final of the 2021 Solar Decathlon China last September, becoming one of the more than ten teams that finally participated in the competition. The competition requires each team to design, build and operate a high-performance full-size house with solar energy as its energy source, and to participate in the evaluation with ten indicators, and selects excellent works from all the participating teams that integrate perfect design, smart energy, diverse innovation, and market potential. Due to the long time and heavy workload of the competition, the requirements for the instructors and students of the participating teams are also high.
However, Assist Prof. Demartino's wholehearted devotion and teaching by words and deeds greatly affected the students. YAN Xiaoyu, a student from the Y-team, said, "Although the battle line is very long, Dr. Demartino carefully guided us throughout the competition, constantly discussed with us, and made suggestions to us. On the eve of submitting the mid-term works, even on weekends, he accompanied us all the way to more than 12 o’clock midnight, which made us very moved and encouraged." At present, the design of ZJUI students' team has been under construction, and the preliminary appearance of the building has been completed. After completing the competition and exhibition, the house designed by them will be preserved in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, as a national renewable energy experimental area, a regional sustainable development model area, and a demonstration facility for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
▲ The preliminary appearance of the building designed by Y-team has been completed
▲ Part of the team members of Y-team
Although Assist Prof. Demartino is an instructor of civil engineering, he often pays attention to students' psychology and their world view, outlook on life, and values. He always said that teaching students to be better people is our most important work and achievement. Therefore, he never begrudges any opportunity to communicate and discuss values and meaning of life with students. A student once cried in front of him because he didn't get the grade of A+, which surprised him. "On the one hand, I was impressed by his pursuing of excellence, but on the other hand, I don't agree with his values. Assist Prof. Demartino said, "I immediately expressed my thoughts to him. I think that learning knowledge and skills and developing ability itself is much more important than high scores and famous schools. The "Morality Education" that China's higher education often emphasizes is also what I agree with and pursue. If you can become an independent person with indomitable spirit, why do you fear the lack of the aura of famous schools and fear the future?"
▲ Assist Prof. Demartino accompanies students on intensive study all the way
In guiding students, Assist Prof. Demartino has many "unique experience" of his own. He always takes becoming a useless person as his goal, hoping that students can explore independently and find answers. There is an ancient saying in China that " A Day as a teacher, father for life." But Assist Prof. Demartino said that although he also loved his students, he wanted to learn to let go like their parents, so that his students could become independent and learn how to solve problems by themselves, thus cultivating the important ability of independent thinking and learning. He said that university students must think about why they study. The significance of learning is not only to win the first place, but also to win the last place, which does not mean that there is no future and hope. Everyone needs to find his own way.
A fan of civil engineering: devote himself to research without questions
When it comes to his scientific research, even if you are completely a layman, Assistant Prof. Demartino will exhaust himself by talking about the interesting aspects of his research. However, such a young scholar who is crazy about civil engineering does not fall in love with civil engineering at first sight. At first, the career he wanted to take was to make videos, which was obstructed by his father, who was also a civil engineer. He also thought that if he studied medicine like his grandfather, what would his life be like now, or if he stuck to his hobby when he was young and continued to shoot videos, he might now become an excellent director or photographer. But after in-depth study and understanding of the field of civil engineering, he not only did not regret the choice at that time, but also began to fall in love with this choice. He said, "Since I started civil engineering, I finished all my hobbies." Civil engineers can protect people's lives like superheroes through their own technology and research, which makes him feel very meaningful. "There are not so many choices in life. Always, when there have something in front of you, then you have to try to obtain the max. " Assist Prof. Demartino said, "Just like teaching students, we cannot choose to teach the best students, but we can teach them to be the best."
Assist Prof. Demartino’s project of Probabilistic design and assessment of bridge cable systems under wind and climatic action was approved by the International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Program of the Research Fund for International Young Scientists, Natural Science Foundation of China. The project studies the bridge response under different weather conditions through aerodynamics, aeroelastic model, probabilistic analysis, etc., so as to reduce the hidden danger in the bridge structure.
When asked why he chose this research direction, Assist Prof. Demartino was very excited to answer, "Because I love bridges. Bridges connect different places, promote economic exchanges, and enable people in different places to establish contact. Bridges are wonderful." He also loves moving things and actions. He is very interested in any structural actions. In the project, they study different loads on the bridge structure under different weather conditions. In May 2020, the Humen Bridge experienced severe vortex vibration, which frightened the citizens. Assist Prof. Demartino's project is to study the bridge response under different weather conditions through aerodynamics, aeroelastic model, probabilistic analysis, etc., so as to reduce the hidden danger in the bridge structure.
▲ The Humen Bridge experienced severe vortex vibration in 2020
In addition, he also actively organized and participated in international conferences in the fields of structures, bridges, wind power and other related fields, exchanges thoroughly with peers, injecting impetus into his research.
A lover of the Chinese nation: Walking in China, while integrating China and the West
By coincidence, Assist Prof. Demartino received the invitation of Prof. XIAO Yan to come to China to carry out scientific research. With his trust in Prof. Xiao and his yearning for China, he set foot on this land. At first, he knew little about China and was afraid of the unfamiliar environment and different cultures. Assist Prof. Demartino said: "Europe seems to me to be a bit of a sameness. China is a completely different country, and I have a very wonderful experience here." Assist Prof. Demartino also said that China is now attracting worldwide attention in scientific research, has made great progress in various scientific research fields, and has great support in scientific research funding.
Now, he has been living in China for many years, and has been completely accustomed to the local customs of China. Although his knowledge of Chinese is very limited, it does not affect his communication with Chinese friends in his life. He likes to communicate with people very much in daily life. He often talks with taxi drivers, security personnel in university, supermarket employees, etc. He said, "I like to get information, know others and understand Chinese culture through communication."
▲ Group photo with students in civil engineering
In November 2020, he was also honored to be elected secretary of the Association of Italian Scholars in China, and actively participated in the Sino Italian academic exchange seminar, striving to be an envoy of Sino Italian cultural exchange. In the future, he also hopes to continue to explore Chinese culture and make more exchanges and cooperation with Chinese scholars.
