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Faculty expands its civil engineering expertise
3 July 2018
New appointments in construction management, transport and humanitarian engineering
The academic ranks of the Faculty of Engineering have been increased by the welcome arrivals of Associate Professor Ali Akbar Nezhad, Dr Aaron Opdyke and Dr Emily Moylan to the School of Civil Engineering.
Associate Professor Ali Akbar Nezhad
The Faculty of Engineering has increased its research proficiency within the area of construction engineering and management following the appointment of Associate Professor Ali Akbar Nezhad to the School of Civil Engineering.
Associate Professor Nezhad will be at the forefront of new research dedicated to this particular area, focusing on the themes of design and planning for sustainability in construction, sustainability assessment in construction, and sustainable construction materials.
“The University of Sydney is home to some of Australia’s brightest engineering students and I am passionate about contributing to their education as they become tomorrow’s industry leaders,” said Associate Professor Nezhad.
“I am excited to be leading exciting research in the area of construction engineering and management and, in collaboration with my colleagues, I hope to build the Faculty’s reputation as a global leader in this space.”
Associate Professor Nezhad has come to the University of Sydney from the Centre for Infrastructure and Safety at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Dr Aaron Opdyke
Humanitarian aid specialist Dr Aaron Opdyke has also joined the School to further support the teaching and delivery of the Humanitarian Engineering major, and research relating to this field.
Dr Opdyke’s primary research activities focus on sustainable development within developing communities as well as better systems relating to the delivery of international humanitarian assistance.
“I’m thrilled to be joining a culture here at the University of Sydney where global partnerships are fostered and innovation is encouraged,” said Dr Opdyke.
“There has been a growing call for greater involvement of academia in humanitarian response and I’m eager to see our exciting humanitarian engineering program fill a critical cap in both research and teaching.”
Dr Emily Moylan
The School’s expertise in transport engineering has been bolstered from the appointment of Dr Emily Moylan, who was previously at UNSW’s Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation.
Her research interests include data science approaches to the variability of system performance and the incorporation of travel time reliability into transportation policy decisions.
“One of the things that really appealed to me about the University of Sydney was the campus-wide, multidisciplinary interest in transport and the excellent research being created by both the School of Civil Engineering and the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies,” said Dr Moylan.
“I hope to provide future graduates from the transport engineering major with the skills required to make data-driven decisions and become leaders in an increasingly data-rich field.”
Dr Moylan will also serve as an Honorary Associate within the Business School’s Institute of Transport and Logistical Studies (ITLS).
“I would like to welcome Ali, Aaron and Emily to the School of Civil Engineering and look forward to the outstanding contributions each will make to grow our respective offerings relating to construction engineering and management, transport engineering and humanitarian engineering,” said Professor Brian Uy, Head of School at the School of Civil Engineering.
