Ange-Therese Akono joined CCEE as an associate professor in the mechanics and materials group in August. She received a Diplome D’Ingenieur from the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, and an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Prior to joining CCEE, Akono held faculty appointments at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University.
Presently, she studies fracture processes in multifunctional, multiscale and multi-physics materials while focusing on small length-scales. In terms of energy science and engineering, she investigates sustainable energy resources such as unconventional resource production, geologic storage of carbon dioxide and clean energy. In terms of construction materials, she studies novel ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the cement industry by using nanomaterials, recycling concrete, or discovering low-embodied energy cement-free binders. Another topic is the study of biomaterials for bone regenerative engineering.
Akono has received several awards including the Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM 2D Award in 2022, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Leonardo da Vinci Award in 2021, the Royal Society International Exchange Scheme Award in 2019 and the ASCE New Faces of Civil Engineering Professionals Award in 2016. Akono served in the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute as vice chair of the Nanomechanics and Micromechanics Committee and as a committee member for the Properties of Materials and Biomechanics Committees. She is also an associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics and a member of the American Ceramic Society.
Starting in the spring semester, Akono will teach a new course on porous materials.
“I am excited about this course,” Akono said. “Essentially, we uncover fundamental behaviors of porous materials such as cement, concrete, rocks, porous steels, porous ceramics, or bone substitutes. This is a master-level course which will be of great interest to students in Geotech, Mechanics of Materials, Structural Engineering, and Transportation in CCEE, and to students in Mechanical and Aerospace Materials Science, and Biomedical Engineering.”
Akono, who is originally from Cameroon, Africa, said she was excited to move to North Carolina and work on NC State’s campus.
“For me, it is about getting closer to the East Coast, where I have a lot of community, and going to a warmer place with a lot of nature like it is in my home country. At NC State, the leadership is forward-looking and very supportive. The faculty is very warm and welcoming. There are so many centers and excellent facilities that fit right with the interdisciplinary nature of my research. I am thrilled to join NC State. I am looking forward to creating unprecedented knowledge with a team of excellent researchers and educating the next generation of thinkers and leaders.”