Dr. Denis Kelliher is a Chartered Engineer and lecturer in the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Ireland, Cork. He graduated with a 1st class honours BE (Civil) from NUIC in 1989 and worked as a graduate structural engineer with Ove Arup and Partners Ireland in their Cork office. During his 18 months tenure there he worked on a variety of projects in building and offshore engineering. He returned to NUIC in late 1990 as a graduate student and during the period 1991 to 1993, he carried some structural consultancy work for local Engineering Consultancies. In 1994 spent 6 months at the University of California, Berkeley as a graduate scholarship holder in the Education Abroad Program. On his return to Cork, he took up a full-time lecturing position, and in 1997 he successfully secured his current position. He graduated with his PhD in 1999.  He recently returned from the USA, having spent the 2009/2010 academic year on sabbatical leave at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of research are primarily in the area of Engineering Computation with specialty in Mathematical Optimisation and Finite Elements.  He is director of the Research Unit for Structures and Optimisation (RUSO), which hosts graduate students at both PhD and MEngSc level.  His current research interests include shell buckling, simulation of biological systems in high pressure environments (deep diving) and the use of Finite Element Analysis to inform clinical studies in Restorative Dentistry.

Dr. Kelliher's PhD was in Structural Shape Optimisation and Finite Element Analysis  and he has maintained this interest in Structures, Engineering Computation, Mathematical Optimisation and Geometry.  He set up and is director of the Research Unit for Structures and Optimisation (RUSO), which currently hosts a PhD (Embark funded) in the areas of Simulation of Biological Systems in High Pressure Environments (deep diving).  Under RUSO he has established a laboratory for small scale structural experimentation, including high resolution photography and video.