Viviana Meruane Naranjo

Academic, Research and Innovation Director

Prof. Viviana Meruane is a Mechanical Civil Engineer from the University of Chile and a PhD from the University of Louvain, Belgium. She is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and has been part of the FCFM’s academic staff since 2006.

She has held administrative positions such as Head Professor and Director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is currently the director of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Program.

Her research areas include structure dynamics, damage detection, predictive maintenance and Artificial Intelligence.

In 2015, she was named one of the 100 leading women in Chile by the El Mercurio newspaper and Mujeres Empresarias (Women Entrepreneurs), and described as an innovator for her research in structural damage assessment. In 2020, she received the Justicia Acuña Mena Award from the Institute of Engineers of Chile, as an engineer who has stood out in the exercise of her profession, both in the public and private spheres, as well as the Ramón Salas Edwards Award for her participation in the SUCHAI project: a Nanosatellite by the University of Chile for aerospace research. Additionally, and according to a publication in PlosOne magazine, she is among the top 2% of international researchers in the area of acoustics for 2019 and 2020.