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Engineers awarded for ongoing research excellence
17 December 2020
Global honours for diverse range of engineering research
Ongoing excellence in the fields of neutron science, sustainable engineering and materials engineering have seen three researchers from the Faculty of Engineering honoured on the global stage.
Faculty of Engineering researchers Professor Anna Paradowska, Professor Jun Huang and Professor Marcela Bilek have all been recognised for their ongoing research excellence in their respective fields of engineering.
Professor Anna Paradowska
Professor Anna Paradowska has been named recipient of the Australian Neutron Beam Users Group (ANBUG) Neutron Award for her outstanding research in neutron science and leadership promoting the Australian neutron scattering community.
Professor Paradowska has pioneered industrial engagement at Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s (ANSTO) Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS), utilising neutron scattering techniques to solve industry problems with particular focus on advanced manufacturing.
Over the years, Professor Paradowska has developed successful collaborations with Australian and global industry as well as universities in the area of advanced and additive manufacturing.
The primary goal of her research is to relate residual-stresses, mechanical and metallurgical properties to manufacturing procedures and integrity requirements of engineering components.
“I am delighted with this peer recognition as it is a fantastic feeling to know that my research contributions are being seen and appreciated by the community,” said Professor Paradowska, a co-appointed Professor Practice between the School of Civil Engineering and ANSTO.
“Neutron scattering has an enormous potential to help solve range of industry problems, and the full potential of those various method is yet to be discovered by the industry.”
The award is the latest achievement for the international expert in neutron diffraction stress analysis, having previously been named recipient of the ASM Henry Marion Howe Medal for co-authoring materials paper In Situ Study of the Stress Relaxation During Aging of Nickel-Base Superalloy Forgings.
The ASM Henry Marion Howe Medal is a prestigious prize intended to honour the author(s) whose paper has been selected as the best of those published in a specific volume of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions.
As part of the project, Paradowska measured residual stresses in the superalloys during in situ heat treatments on the Kowari strain scanner and the same procedure was repeated at other neutron facilities.
The results demonstrated that the newly-developed induction heating setup could be repeated successfully on several instruments across three continents and reassure the scientific and industrial community that residual stress relaxation can be measured accurately and systematically.
Furthermore, Professor Jun Huang and Professor Marcela Bilek, who are also members of the University of Sydney Nano Institute have also been honoured for their engineering work.
Professor Jun Huang
Professor Jun Huang from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has been named one of only three recipients globally for this year’s ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Lectureship Awards.
Professor Huang and his team have been recognised for their ongoing work into green and sustainable engineering, including laying the groundwork for a low-cost catalyst that can minimise CO2 emissions for oil-refining, advance biorefining for renewable resources, and convert CO2 and solid wastes to high value fuels and chemicals.
“Sustainable development is a significant global challenge due to the growth of the world’s population and industry, with increasing demand for energy and chemicals as well as increasing the wastes and CO2 emission,” said Professor Huang, who is also a member of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture and Materials Today Sustainability editor-in-chief .
“My research aims to address the fundamental issues for the sustainability and is focused on the development of novel catalysts and catalytic technologies to minimise CO2 emissions in industry.”
Professor Marcela Bilek
Additionally, Professor Bilek from the School of Biomedical Engineering has been accepted as a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS).
The Australian Research Council (ARC) Laurette has been recognised for her ongoing contributions to the science and technology of plasma processes.
In particular, for materials modification and synthesis utilising energetic ions to control intrinsic stress and microstructure as well as the creation of new biointerfaces.
“I am honoured to have been elected as a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society and humbled to be joining the ranks of many great names in this branch of science and technology,” said Professor Bilek, who is also a member of the Charles Perkins Centre.