Walter Krenkel holds the Chair of Ceramic Materials at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, where he also heads the Ceramic Composites Group at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. He gained his PhD in aeronautics and aerospace from the University of Stuttgart, and was formerly Head of Ceramic Composite Structures and of the Center of Excellence Lightweight CMC Structures at the German Aerospace Center. He is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and serves on the scientific and advisory boards of many international conferences, workshops and technology exchange forums worldwide.Professor Krenkel`s research focuses on the development and qualification of CMCs and other novel ceramics.