Theo Salet becomes new Dean of Architecture

The Executive Board has appointed Theo Salet as dean of the Faculty of Architecture effective June 1. The part-time professor of Structural Design/Concrete Structures succeeds Elphi Nelissen in that position. Salet is currently senior partner at the Witteveen+Bos engineering firm, where he leads the Buildings product market combination.

The Executive Board has appointed Theo Salet as dean of the Faculty of Architecture effective June 1. The part-time professor of Structural Design/Concrete Structures succeeds Elphi Nelissen in that position. Salet is currently senior partner at the Witteveen+Bos engineering firm, where he leads the Buildings product market combination.

The new dean comes from Eindhoven's own ranks. Theo Salet received his MSc from the Department of Built Environment at TU/e in 1986. His doctoral research focused on the structural behavior of foam concrete in sandwich structures.

After receiving his doctorate in 1990, Salet started his career at SGS Intron in Sittard, where he became principal investigator in Structural and Material Engineering. In 1998, he made the switch to Witteveen+Bos where, as project leader, senior constructor and contract manager, he was responsible for the design and management of large infrastructure projects and buildings. Currently, Salet is still senior partner at Witteveen+Bos and market leader in the Buildings product market combination; in light of his appointment as dean, he is winding down this work.

Since 2012, Salet has been a part-time professor in the Department of Built Environment at TU/e. In particular, his research on the first in concrete printed bridge and the ongoing project with printed houses of project Milestone led to much international attention from academia, industry and media. He is visiting professor at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore (NTU) and driving force behind several industrial spin-off activities.

As dean, Salet will take over from Elphi Nelissen, who, after her second term as dean, will take over the Building Performance chair from Professor Jan Hensen, who will retire later this year. With that, Nelissen also takes over his role as scientific director of the post-master's program in Smart Buildings & Cities.

Major task
Theo Salet is pleased and honored by his appointment as dean. "Our faculty is valued for the quality of its teaching and research. The multiplicity of disciplines - architecture, building physics, structural design and urban planning - under one roof is unique." Salet views his role as dean with ambition. He wants to give the faculty a prominent role the development and innovation within the sector.

"Our built environment faces a major task in the coming decades," Salet states. "Urbanization demands more and affordable and sustainable housing and the current infrastructure is reaching the end of its design life. Add to that the adjustments that new forms of mobility and the Internet of Things, among others, demand from our built environment. That makes the task large and complex."

Salet sees it as his mission within the faculty to train engineers capable of working on the city, a building or a civil engineering structure as a complex system. "I see three focal points in the near future: more scientific research, exploration of new research areas and educational innovation. This university and this faculty should strive to be at the top in science, with a multidisciplinary outlook and approach in collaboration with industry."

Proud
According to TU/e rector Frank Baaijens, the university can be proud of Salet's appointment, "someone educated here, with a wealth of experience in industry and with an excellent track record in terms of scientific research."