Nicos Makris, an internationally recognized expert in structural-earthquake engineering and structural mechanics-dynamics, is the Addy Family Centennial Professor in Civil Engineering at Southern Methodist University and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Makris has previously served on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame (1992-1996), the University of California, Berkeley (1996-2005), the University of Patras, Greece (2003-2018) and the University of Central Florida (2014-2018). He is a member of Academia Europaea, a distinguished visiting fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, a member of the Congress Committee and General Assembly of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM); while, he has been honored with several international prizes and awards including the J. James R. Croes Medal from ASCE, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE, the T. K. Hsieh Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers, U.K. for the best paper in the Geotechnique Journal during year 1997, the Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), USA and the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, USA. While teaching at the University of Patras, Makris served for seven consecutive years as the Director of Reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus in Ancient Nemea, Greece. During that period (Jan 2003—Dec 2009) four entire columns of the Temple together with their capitals have been reconstructed. The archaeological site of Nemea was awarded in 2022 the European Cultural Heritage Label.