Michele Barbato

Michele Barbato is Professor of Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He holds a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of California, San Diego (2007), an M.S. in Structural Engineering from the same institution (2005), and a “Laurea” Degree in Civil Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome (2002). His professional career began as a Research Assistant at the University of California, San Diego (2002–2007), followed by Assistant Professor (2007–2013) and Associate Professor (2013–2018) at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. Since July 2018, he has been Professor at UC Davis. Barbato currently serves as President of the Engineering Mechanics Institute (October 2025–present), Executive Committee Member of the UC Disaster Resilience Network (November 2024–present), Adjunct Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University/NIST (May 2024–present), Director of the UC Davis Climate Adaptation Research Center (September 2023–present), and Director of the CITRIS Climate Initiative (October 2021–present). He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Louisiana (since 2014) and Italy (since 2002), and holds fellowships including F.ASCE (2021), F.SEI (2019), and F.EMI (2019).

Barbato's research interests encompass modeling and analysis of reinforced concrete, steel, steel-concrete composite, wood-concrete composite structures, and structures retrofitted with fiber reinforced polymers; soil-foundation-structure interaction; finite element methods for structural and geotechnical systems; earthquake engineering and structural dynamics; random vibration theory; computational reliability analysis; probabilistic methods in earthquake, wind, hurricane engineering; performance-based multihazard engineering; multihazard assessment and mitigation under changing climate conditions; wildfire risk assessment and mitigation; innovative use of waste materials in construction; and numerical optimization in structural engineering. His contributions have earned numerous accolades, including the 2025 Icons of Change International Award for Sustainable Development Goal 11; 2023 UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovator of the Year Award and Environmental Faculty Fellow; 2020 ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize; 2011 Junior Research Prize from the European Association for Structural Dynamics; and multiple ASCE awards such as the 2009 Moisseiff Award, Outstanding Reviewer Awards (2009–2021), and Journal Editor’s Choices (2021–2022). Barbato is actively involved in professional organizations including ASCE, SEI, EMI, AISC, and others, advancing structural engineering and climate resilience.

Professional Email: mbarbato@ucdavis.edu