Donato Firrao

Photo of Donato Firrao, Ohio State External Advisory Committee member

Professor Donato Firrao, born in Bari, Italy in 1944, got his Laurea in Chemical Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy in 1968 and his M.Sc. in Metallurgical Engineering at The Ohio State University in 1970, under a Fulbright Scholarship.

Donato was an Assistant Professor at the Politecnico di Torino since 1968 and Associate Professor since 1983. He became a Full Professor of Technology of Metallic Materials at the the Politecnico di Torino in 1986. Professor Firrao retired in 2015.

He was a visiting Fellow at Ohio State from 1978 to 1979, under a NATO Grant.

Publications

Professor Firrao is the author of more than 240 papers in the fields of Mechanical Metallurgy and Surface Heat Treatments.

Appointments and Memberships

Memberships include AIM, ASM, TMS, and The Italian Group on Fracture (IGF). He helped establish IGF in 1982 and held positions of Secretary and President before his current role as Vice President. 

  • He was the President of the Federation of European Materials Societies (2000-01);
  • Past President of the Collegio Universitario di Torino (1993-2018)
  • Dean of Engineering 1 at the Politecnico di Torino (2005-2012)
  • Fellow of the American Society for Materials International
  • Fellow of the European Structural Integrity Society
  • Honorary member of the Italian Group on Fracture