Bohumil Kasal (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4431-0863) holds professorships at the University of Primorska, Slovenia, Czech Technical University in Prague, TU Braunschweig (em) and North Carolina State University (aff).
Prof. Kasal was until October 2024 a Director of the Fraunhofer Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institute in Braunschweig and held the Chair in Organic Construction Materials at Carolo-Wilhelmina University in Braunschweig, Germany. Prior to this appointment, he held the prestigious Bernard and Henrietta Hankin Chair of Residential Building Construction at the Pennsylvania State University, where he was appointed a Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor of Architectural Engineering, and a Director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center.
Kasal, a registered professional engineer, has authored over 200 publications and has been consistently included in the Stanford University list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists. He holds two MS degrees and a PhD degree from Virginia Tech and Oregon State University in Wood Science and Engineering and in Civil Engineering. Dr. Bohumil Kasal was a member of the U.S. Congressional Wind Hazard Reduction Caucus, a position he held beginning in 2000 and he also chaired the North Carolina Governor’s Committee for wind loads on residential construction (1999–2005). Dr. Kasal is an Elected Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), member of the American Academy of Mechanics, IAWS Fellow and Fulbright Scholar. He is a recipient of numerous awards such as Wood Award, Wilhelm-Klauditz Medal, SWST George G. Marra Award for Excellence in Research and Writing, Commemorative Medal for scientific contributions from ITAM of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and others.
Kasal established or helped to establish four European Centers of Excellence, including LignoSilva, with total funding of over 100 Million Euros. In addition, he acquired funding and built the Fraunhofer Center of Environmentally Friendly Structures at the TU Braunschweig, Fraunhofer WKI Center for Wood Fiber Research (HOFZET) in Hannover, and the Fraunhofer Pilot Facility for Wood Composites in Braunschweig, Germany.
During his free time, Prof. Kasal enjoys mountain biking and cross-country skiing.