Prof. Werner Sobek is an architect, consulting engineer, proof engineer for all fields of structural engineering, and holds various licenses, e.g. a Structural Engineering License for Illinois. As a successor to architect Frei Otto and structural engineer Jörg Schlaich, Werner Sobek heads the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart. From 2008 until 2014 he was also Mies van der Rohe Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In addition, he is founder and president of various non-profit organizations such as aed and SIS.