Rate My Professor Sergei Khakalo

Sergei Khakalo serves as Assistant Professor of Structural Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at Aalto University, within the Structures – Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation group. His academic background includes a doctoral degree from Aalto University in 2017, with the dissertation titled 'Strain gradient continuum mechanics: simplified models, variational formulations and isogeometric analysis with applications,' supervised by Jarkko Niiranen. Khakalo's research specializations encompass applied mechanics and mathematics, finite element methods and isogeometric analysis (FEM & IGA), generalized continuum mechanics, and mechanical metamaterials. His work addresses size-dependent behaviors in materials and structures, from nano- to macro-scales, including strain gradient elasticity models for lattices, shells, beams, and plates. Career highlights include contributions to projects such as 'Isogeometric adaptive methods for thin-walled structures' since 2013 and principal investigator roles in 'SuperWood - Khakalo T21400: Structurally more efficient engineered wood from optimized geometrical configurations and improved wood microstructure' (2024–2028) and 'TexTerials: Refined fibers from wasted textiles for high performance long-lasting materials' (2025–2027).

Khakalo has earned recognition through awards such as the Oskari Vilamo Fund best thesis award in 2018 and the Student prize for Best Doctoral Dissertation 2017 from Aalto University's Department of Civil Engineering. His key publications include 'Modelling size-dependent bending, buckling and vibrations of 2D triangular lattices by strain gradient elasticity models: applications to sandwich beams and auxetics' (International Journal of Engineering Science, 2018), 'Anisotropic strain gradient thermoelasticity for cellular structures: plate models, homogenization and isogeometric analysis' (Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2020), 'Kirchhoff–Love shells within strain gradient elasticity: Weak and strong formulations and an H3-conforming isogeometric implementation' (Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2019), 'Wood-based superblack' (Nature Communications, 2023), and 'igUEL-SGE-solid: Abaqus user element (UEL) implementation for isogeometric analysis of strain-gradient-elastic solids' (SoftwareX, 2026). He has presented at conferences including the XLV International Summer School – Conference Advanced Problems in Mechanics (2017) and serves as guest editor for the journal Mathematics.