Professor Dražan Kozak

Dražan Kozak was born on July 31, 1967. He graduated at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty (SF) in Slavonski Brod, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in 1991. After that he started with his postgraduate study at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB), University of Zagreb. Simultaneously he has been employed at the SF Slavonski Brod, as the scientific novice. He achieved his titles Master of Science in 1995 and Doctor of Philosophy in 2001, both at the FSB Zagreb. Thesis research was focused on the fracture behaviour of strength mismatch welded joints with surface and/or through-thickness crack located in the middle of the weld and/or in the heat affected zone.

Academic career he started as an Assistant Professor in 2002, in 2005 he becames Associate Professor, in 2009 Full Professor and in 2014 Full Professor with tenure in the field of Mechanics and Strength of Materials. Prof. Kozak is lecturer in the courses as Engineering Mechanics I (Static) and II (Kinematics and Dynamics), Strength of Materials I and II, Numerical methods, Finite Element Method, Pressure vessels and piping and Fracture Mechanics at the Mechanical Engineering Constructions Department by SF in Slavonski Brod.

He was main researcher on the bilateral international Slovenian-Croatian project (2003-2004) 'Application of fracture mechanics by energetic components revitalisation' and Hungarian-Croatian project (2005-2007) 'New approach to design of welded components based on benefits of present heterogeneity in the welded joint'. The results of the bilateral projects were implemented into structural integrity assessment of vital parts of steam generator in Nuclear Power Plant Krško in Slovenia. Prof Kozak led also bilateral Austrian-Croatian (2008-2009) project 'An influence of surface treatment processes on the fatigue behaviour under multiaxial loading' together with Dr-Ing Jürgen Fröschl (Montanuniversität Leoben). He lead together with Prof Aleksandar Sedmak bilateral Serbian-Croatian project (2010-2011) 'Integrity assessment and energetic efficiency of structures in exploitation'. During last years he was actively included in the work on the fundamental national project 0152-018 'Life cycle assessment of the structures considering fracture mechanics approach', as researcher. He was main investigator on the project for young scientists 'Numerical modelling of strength mismatch welded joints with cracks' supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of Croatia (MZOS). At the moment Prof. Kozak is the leader of the project 152-1201910-1909 'Analysis and fracture assessment of structures of anisotropic materials' granted also by MZOS. The aim of the project is to reach the best performance of structural component in order to ensure safe service of heterogeneous and anisotropic materials, especially in biomechanics issue. He is coordinator of five CEEPUS projects: CIII-RO-0202-08-1415, CIII-CZ-0201-07-1415, CIII-RS-0065-09-1415, CIII-PL-0033-10-1415 and CIII-RO-0058-07-1415. He is project manager of the project "ME4CataLOgue - Croatian Catalogue of knowledge, skills and competences for Mechanical Engineering studies based on learning outcomes" which is co-financed by European Union through the IPA IV component Human Resources Development. He is team member at the project WORTH.

Dr Kozak attended courses or had scholarships for short-time visit to Hochschule Bremen (1992 and 1994), TU Vienna (1993 and 2002), CISM Udine (1992 and 1998), University of Sheffield (1998), University of Maribor (2001), MPA Stuttgart (2003), NATO Advanced Research Workshop in Budapest (2003), Enlargement and Integration Workshop JRC Petten (2005, 2006 and 2011), FITNET 3rd Training Seminar Miskolc (2005), ESF-ORI Conference in Lisbon (2007), Faculty of Engineering in Baia Mare (2009), TU Sofia (2010), TU Poznan (2010), CAMPUS 02 Graz (2011 and 2014), VŠB TU Ostrava (2011 and 2013), TU Cluj Napoca (2012, 2014), Transilvania University of Brasov (2013), University of Oradea (2014) and TU Cracow (2015). In the framework of ERASMUS staff mobility program he teached at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor in academic year 2009/2010, and he was at the Istanbul Aydin University in Erasmus preparatory visit (2012).

He published over 100 scientific-research papers at the Conferences or in Journals mainly devoted to numerical modelling of the fracture behaviour of heterogeneous welded structures. He published 49 articles in impacted Journals referred in the Web of Science databases, which are 170 times cited. His h-index is 8.

Prof. Drazan Kozak was the Vice-Dean for Science at the native Faculty - SF in the period 2005-2009, and Dean of the SF in the period 2009-2013. He is honorary professor at the GAMF Kecskemet college, Hungary and guest professor at the Faculty of technical sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. He is member of ESIS, ASME (ASME Membership Number is 100092830) and active as the member of the Croatian Society of Mechanics. Prof. Drazan Kozak is the member of the Editorial Board of Technical gazette, Transactions of FAMENA, The Open Mechanics Journal, Pollack Periodica, Archives of Mechanical Technology and Automation, Gradus, International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering Systems, Journal of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, Journal of Engineering and Technology, GeoScience Engineering and Journal of Naval Science and Engineering and member of the Scientific Council of Journal of Mechanical Engineering - Strojarstvo. He is President of the TEAM International Society.

Prof. Dražan Kozak is certified international expert for the external independent evaluation of the quality system assurance by Agency for Science and Higher Education (AZVO) and member of Accreditation council of AZVO. Engaged as external examiner at MCAST (2013, 2014 and 2015). He is expert engaged by Croatian Accreditation Agency. He is member of the Rotary club Slavonski Brod. He is married and father of two daughters.