Sofia Teixeira de Freitas

Sofia Teixeira de Freitas is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Delft University of Technology. Her main research interest lay on the understanding of the failure mechanisms and degradation of adhesively bonded structures, using the principles of structural mechanics. In her research she applies the concept of design through understanding of the damage progress mechanisms, in short term and long term, to the benefit and optimization of adhesively bonded lightweight structures. She focuses on questions such as: How does a bonded structure fail under certain load/environmental conditions? Why does it fail in such conditions? How can we tailor the failure to the benefit of an enhanced performance?

What really motivates her?

“To expand my knowledge and pass it on to new generations.”

Positions

  • Present2014

    Assistant Professor (Tenure track)

    Faculty of Aerospace Engineering/ Delft University of Technology

  • 20142012

    Postdoctoral Researcher

    Materials Innovation Institute (M2i), Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology

  • 20122008

    PhD researcher

    Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology

  • 20072005

    Structural Design Engineer (non-academic)

    Structural Design Department, Teixeira Duarte Engenharia e Construções S.A.

Education

  • PhD 2012

    PhD

    Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology

  • MSc 2005

    Civil Engineer Degree

    Instituto Superior Técnico

Honors, Awards and Grants

  • 2016
    VENI – Innovation Research Incentives Schemes
    Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), The Netherlands

    The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme awards personal grants to talented, creative researchers. This personal grant has enabled Sofia to build her own line of research on Non-conventional Composite Bonded joints.

    https://www.nwo.nl/en/funding/our-funding-instruments/nwo/innovational-research-incentives-scheme/index.html

  • 2014
    Delft Technology Fellowship
    Delft Technology Fellowship awards tenure-track positions to top female scientists. As a fellow, Sofia has the unique chance to establish her own research group of international repute.

    https://www.tudelft.nl/en/about-tu-delft/working-at-tu-delft/fellows-and-postdocs/delft-technology-fellowship/

  • 2015
    Visiting Research Scholarship, CEFET, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    Research Funding agency of Rio de Janeiro state (FAPERJ)

    This scholarship funded Sofia’s  Scientific Visit to CEFET to initiate a collaboration project on Degradation of Composite Bonded repairs in maritime environment.

  • 2013
    Best Oral Presentation
    2nd International Conference on Structural Adhesive bonding, Portugal
  • 2008
    PhD individual scholarship
    Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT), Portugal
  • 2007
    Best Internship Award, Portuguese Engineer Society, Portugal
    Granted for her Internship as structural Engineer at Teixeira Duarte Engenharia e Construções S.A., upload final report
  • 2004
    Erasmus Scholarship, European Union
    Funded scheme for last 6 months of graduate studies in TU Delft.