Prof. Guoxing LU from Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) was invited to give an academic presentation entitled ‘‘Energy Absorption and Impact Response of Structures and Materials’’ at the School of Mechanical Engineering (SME), Jiangsu University. Prof. Naifei Ren, the Dean of the School, welcomed Prof. Lu and chaired his presentation. More than 100 attendees from the SME and other Schools attended this seminar.

Prof. Lu briefly introduced the basic concepts and principles regarding energy absorption by structures and materials. His presentation mainly focused on the recent research in energy absorption and/or dynamic impact behavior of thin-walled structures (circular tubes, square tubes, patterned tubes, tubes with windows, rectangular beams, mild steel tubes, aluminium tubes), porous and cellular solids (honeycombs, aluminum foams), sandwich panels (honeycomb core panels, aluminium foam core panels, curved sandwich panels), and composite structures (carbon fibre composites), etc. Prof. Lu found cellular materials and their structures offered good energy absorption performance, and their structural performance could be adjusted and might be optimised in design. He also noted that the design concept should be extended to other areas of applications in industries such as mining and sports, and civil engineering. Finally, Prof. Lu answered the questions raised by the attendees. The attendees were impressed by Prof. Lu’s talk and his academic seriousness, passion, and interest in the area of energy absorption and response of structures and materials.