History

The scientific activity in the Research Centre for Computational Methods started at the beginning of the 80’s, but at that time its name was not the current as well as it hadn’t its current institutional status. Actually in 1980 Prof. Alberto Cassano invited Prof. Sergio Idelsohn to join the Institute for Thechnological Development of Chemical Industry (INTEC from its spanish acronym), in Santa Fe in order to create the Group of Mechanical Technology (GTM).
In 1981, Prof. Sergio Idelsohn started to work with four students and quickly gained relevance in the field of numerical methods in engineering. In 1984 GTM-INTEC organized in Bariloche, the second meeting of researchers and users of the finite element method (ENIEF), and immediately after, in 1985 the first Argentinian Congress on Computational Mechanics that was held in Santa Fe and Paraná. Moreover, the same year the Argentinian Association for Computational Mechanics (AMCA) was created with its head office located in Santa Fe.
Many students developed their thesis in the GTM obtaining their PhDs mainly from the Engineering schools from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL) . By the end of 90’s the Faculty of Engineering and Hydric Sciences (FICH-UNL) lauched its Engineering PhD with a special track on Computational Mechanics, with active participation of CIMEC on teaching and management. Later on, the career was certified wit the highest rating by the National Comision for Evaluation and Accreditation in Argentina (CONEAU).

In 1996, UNL created the International Center for Computational Methods in Engineering (CIMEC, from its spanish acronym) depending administratively from INTEC and developing their activities in the building of such insttitute located at Güemes 3450, in Santa Fe. In 2003, CIMEC was moved to the brand new campus “Dr. Alberto Cassano” of the Scientific and Technological Center Santa Fe CONICET, located on the west coast of the Setubal Lagoon.

In 2006 part of the CIMEC staff was moved to the its new own building, while the full institute was moved after the inauguration of the second stage of the building, inaugurated in 2015 by the National President, the CONICET’s president, and the vice rector of UNL. In 2013, CIMEC was established as an independent institute holding from then its actual name.

Currently, CIMEC is considered as the most important center of Computational Mechanics in Argentina, and a reference in the field in Latin America. Its continuous growing lies on different cooperation activities with academia, industry, government, and several international groups, particularly in the US and European community such as Spain, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany and Poland, but also Switzerland and Great Britain.