Dr. Johann Jakob Schwiedrzik is the head of the biomechanics research team at the Laboratory for Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures of Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. He was born in Cologne, Germany, and studied Mechanical Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology, including an exchange year at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 2014, he earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Bern. Dr. Schwiedrzik joined Empa as a Postdoc, where he worked on scientific instrument development, experimental micromechanics at varying temperatures and strain rates, and the mechanics of thin films and biological materials. In 2017, he received an Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to establish a research team focused on biomechanics, investigating microscale deformation mechanisms and yield properties of bone, particularly as they relate to aging. His research aims to enhance the understanding of bone fractures to predict individual patient's fracture risks. Additionally, he studies biological materials with hierarchical architectures, such as wood, and develops new methods to identify nanoscale material properties through combined experimental and modeling approaches.
Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology • Thun, Switzerland
Worked on scientific instrument development and experimental micromechanics.