After completing his mechanical engineering studies with a focus on mechanics, measurement and control technology at the Leibniz University Hannover and at Imperial College in London, UK. Prof. Sextro worked as a development engineer and project coordinator at Baker Hughes INTEQ at the Drilling Research Center in Celle and in Houston, Texas. In 1993 he returned to the University of Hanover as a research assistant and received his doctorate in 1997 at the Institute of Mechanics. He then completed his habilitation in the field of mechanics. In February 2004 he accepted an appointment as professor at the Institute for Mechanics and Gear Science at the Graz University of Technology in Austria. Since March 2009, Sextro has headed the Chair of Dynamics and Mechatronics at the University of Paderborn.