Prof. Michał Kleiber has been awarded the honoris causa doctorate from the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin. The award ceremony took place on 18th October 2021 at the Skoczowski Auditorium of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, WPUT.
Prof. Michał Kleiber has been awarded for his “outstanding scientific and organizational achievements, significant contribution to the development and promotion of research, scientific cooperation, and education of young researchers from the West Pomeranian University of Technology.”
Prof. Michał Kleiber is a world-class scientist and a renowned expert in the fields of mechanics, applied mathematics and informatics, specializing in applications of modern computer technologies in science and medicine.
Professor Kleiber has been a member of IPPT PAN since 1971. In 1995-2006 he was appointed Director of the Institute. Today, professor Kleiber holds the position of Member of the IPPT PAN Scientific Council and Professor at the Department of Information and Computational Science. He combines researching at the Institute with working as editor-in-chief of scientific journals, including the Computer Assisted Methods in Engineering and Science (CAMES). In 1994, he became editor-in-chief of the Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering and a board member of the International Association of Computational Mechanics. In 2017, the General Assembly appointed professor Kleiber President of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS).
The ceremony was presided over by professor Jacek Wróbel, rector of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, who said:
It is with great satisfaction to have received the decision of the Senate of the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin to honour prof. Michał Kleiber with our University honorary doctorate. Prof. Kleiber is an outstanding expert in the field of mechanical engineering and a person of great merit to the scientific community and economy. Prof. Kleiber is also a highly distinguished member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He devoted much of his research to computational methods in mechanical engineering, non-linear mechanics of solids, random systems mechanics, applied math and information science including modeling and computer simulations, numerical methods, and artificial intelligence.
Prof. Ryszard Buczkowski, head of the Department of Structural Mechanics, Faculty of Maritime Technology and Transport, WPUT, gave the tribute speech, in which he pointed to the Laureate’s scientific achievements and his service to the public and to the Polish nation.
Photo credit: Jerzy Undro
The Honorary Doctor talked about the importance of innovations. He said that exact sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences study the world in the way it has been created, but it is engineers who create a world which has never yet existed.
Innovation is a synergy between knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship, well thought-out rules and a universal belief in the importance of human creativity. A strong, public culture of innovation is the key to creating a competitive economy. – said the Laureate.
And added: Gaining a wide public support for creative thinking and innovative acting is the only chance for Poland to achieve a steady economic growth at a 5 per cent rate, and to meet high social aspirations.
Prof. Kleiber finished with: The joint success depends primarily on the scientists and engineers – on their knowledge, creativity, and resourcefulness.
Prof. Tadeusz Burczyński, Director of the Institute, congratulated the Laureate on behalf of the whole IPPT PAN community. Prof. Burczyński expressed deep appreciation for the Laureate’s scientific and organizational achievements in developing Polish science, and wished the Honorary Doctor that he would nurture his inquisitive mind and share knowledge and experience with us for long years to come.
