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Luigi Coppola’s Lectio Magistralis, entitled Innovation and sustainability in building materials: challenges and opportunities (Innovazione e sostenibilità nei materiali da costruzione: sfide e opportunità), is an opportunity to take an in-depth look at how a changing sector is evolving with concrete impacts on our way of building and living in the future.

Coppola, who has taught in the Bachelor of Science ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ in Civil Engineering, the Bachelor of Arts ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ in Architecture and the Bachelor of Arts ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ in Conservation, concludes his long and valuable 20-year career at the Department of Environment Constructions and Design. An opportunity to reflect, but also to thank him and celebrate his contribution.

The lecture will be introduced by Franco Gervasoni, ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ General Director, with a laudatio by Ezio Cadoni, ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ Professor in Mechanics of Materials and Structures.

The topics that Coppola has dedicated himself to over the years – and will present in his Lectio Magistralis – are the mechanical and microstructural characterisation of cement-based building materials, the degradation, durability and restoration of reinforced concrete structures and historical buildings, and innovative strategies for the sustainability of building materials. The integration of industrial by-products has over the years reduced the use of clinker, the production of which is responsible for a significant share of CO₂ emissions. In the field of recycling demolition waste and the valorisation of recycled aggregates in structural concrete, the correct selection and treatment of recycled aggregates made from by-products of industrial processes can lead to performance comparable to, or better than, traditional concrete, paving the way for large-scale use.

The event is public, in Italian and free of charge.
It will be held on Tuesday 6 May 2025 at 17:30 at the Campus of the Department of Environment Constructions and Design ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ in Mendrisio in the Sala polivalente (Multipurpose Hall, ground floor). Refreshments will be offered at the end.

Registration is welcome by Friday, 2nd May 2025 .

Luigi Coppola

¾«¶«Ó°Òµ Professor in Management, Maintenance and Restoration of the Built Environment, Luigi Coppola is Professor of Building Materials and Restoration Materials at the University of Bergamo. In 2000 he was awarded a prize by the American Concrete Institute and the Canadian Institute of Materials, Energy and Transportation: the prestigious award underlined his contribution to the work in the field of concrete durability. President of the American Concrete Institute Italy Chapter, he sits on the scientific committees of various journals and participates in the work of several commissions for the drafting of standards governing the construction materials sector. He is a member of the scientific committee of Federbeton and coordinates Aimat Cincominet-Cementitious and Innovative Construction Materials Interdisciplinary Network.