Category: Delegate

Dr Mamdouh Shoukri

Mamdouh Shoukri, C.M., O.Ont., PhD, FCAE, P.Eng, was appointed the seventh President and Vice-Chancellor of York University on July 1, 2007.

Dr Shoukri began his career in academia at McMaster University, where he joined the faculty in 1984. He served in a number of leadership roles there, including Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Vice-President Research & International Affairs.

Dr Shoukri serves on the Ministry of Industry’s Space Advisory Board, the Boards of Directors of Universities Canada and the Loran Scholars Foundation, and is Chair of the Government and Community Relations Committee for the Council of Ontario Universities. He is a member of the Standing Advisory Committee on University Research (SACUR) for Universities Canada, and was a founding Board Member of the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and a member of the Ontario Research and Innovation Council (ORIC).

For his contributions to the flourishing of Ontario’s academic institutions as an engineer and administrator, Dr Shoukri was named a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario in 2013, and awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal. He is a Senior Fellow of Massey College, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. Dr Shoukri’s scholarly interests are in thermo-fluid science, and he is the author or co-author of more than 120 papers that have appeared in refereed journals and symposia.

Professor Arun Sharma

Professor Arun Sharma is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Commercialisation) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

He has played a leadership role in development of Australian research capability in information and communication technology. He was co-founder of National ICT Australia Limited (NICTA), and was the inaugural Director of its largest research laboratory. Prior to NICTA, he was the Head of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales where he helped establish the Cooperative Research Centre for Smart Internet Technology.

He has held a number of advisory roles both at the federal and state levels. He was a member of the inaugural Advisory Council of the Australian Research Council and served as a member of the Queensland Premier’s Smart State Council and as a member of the Premier’s Business Roundtable. He has also led the Australia India Business Council both at the state and national level. He was awarded the 2010 Premier’s Special Award for contribution to building the export profile of Queensland.

Professor Sundararajan Ramachandran

Prof. S. Ramachandran is currently serving as Vice Chancellor at Hindustan University, Chennai. Prior to this he has served as a Vice Chancellor in University of Madras (2006 – 2009) and Vels University (2009 – 2013). He served Anna University for 20 Years in various capacities such as Professor & Director. He earned his D.Sc. in the field of Coastal Studies from the University of Madras. Prof. Ramachandran has made more than 50 academic visits to various institutions in abroad during 1990 – 2010 especially to implement several international collaborations in the field of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), higher education and research. As a Course Director of the UK Department for International Development ICZM training and capacity building programme he has made tremendous contributions in implementing ICZM programmes in India. As an Expert Member in more than 45 National Committees he has made significant contributions in strengthening the implementation of ICZM for Indian coastal zone in all levels. He has initiated research in areas of every day application and has accorded priority to many modern disciplines such as Coastal Zone Management, Port and Harbour Management, Coastal Ocean Studies, Environmental Studies, Disaster Management etc. Prof. Ramachandran has published more than 285 research papers, edited 11 books; guided 28 Ph.D’s and completed 52 research projects. Dr. Ramachandran resuscitated the academic and research focus in the universities he served. He has more than 35 years of experience in higher education administration and research. He has established several research centres and academic departments in the universities he served. He has received more than 21 International fellowships, and 7 National and International awards including the Italian government’s highest civilian honour and medal, ‘Stella Della Solidarieta Italiana’, the Cavalliea’ award.

Dr Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim

Dr Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim is an Associate Professor and the Director of UTM International Office Department, UTM Kuala Lumpur. He is an associate lecturer at Graduate School of Business Administration, Meiji University Japan since 2011. He is also an invited lecturer at Beifeng University of Nationalities, China as well as Far Eastern University, the Philippines. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and B.Sc. in Engineering Management from University of Evansville (USA) in 1988. He obtained his MSc in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Warwick University (United Kingdom) in 1991 and his PhD from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2006. He also received a Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health in Manufacturing Industries from Worksafe Western Australia in 1998 as well as Train the Trainers Certificate for Safety and Officer Program from NIOSH.

He is a member of American Society for Quality (ASQ), associate member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), associate member of Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), UK, member of IEEE, member of MyTRIZ, graduate member of IEM, member of International Society of Horticultural Science, member of International Society of Applied Intelligence and a member of National Geographic Society. He is currently involves in a Strategic Management project with Ministry of Human Development and Labour, Khartoum State and High Level Academy Aviation (HLAA), Sudan. His area of expertise is in Occupational Safety and Health, Industrial Engineering as well as Entrepreneurship.

Professor Robert Parkin

Professor Parkin gained a BSc in Engineering Science from Leicester University and a PhD from Leicester Polytechnic (De Montfort University). He is a leading figure in the international field of Mechatronics and has published in excess of 400 journal and conference papers. In 31 years as a career academic he has graduated 45 PhD students.

He is a Chartered Engineer being a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Engineering & Technology and the Royal Society of Arts & Commerce. The majority of his research has involved industry partnerships and he has served as Managing Director of 3 spin-out companies, winning 2 DTI SMART awards and 2 HEIF Enterprise Fellowships. He has worked at De Montfort and Loughborough Universities served as a non- executive director of the MTC (www.the-mtc.org) before joining Bradford.

Robert is an invited member of the Saxonian Academy of Sciences, Leipzig, Germany and a Visiting Professor of Chongqing UPT and Hohhot Forestry University PRC. He was a founder member of the UK Mechatronics Forum and led the Mechatronics Research Centre at Loughborough University before becoming Dean of the Wolfson School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering in 2007.

During his leadership the School doubled its student applications and trebled its research portfolio. The School’s performance was instrumental in the University being awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for High Value Manufacturing in 2013 and a QS World University 5 stars rating in 2014.

Professor Wahid bin Omar

Wahid Omar is a Professor of Structural Engineering at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of UTM in September 2013. Wahid Omar obtained his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Birmingham, his Master’s degree in Bridge Engineering from the University of Surrey, and his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree from the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia and a member of various professional bodies including the Institution of Engineers Malaysia. He is also an Honorary Member of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organization (AFEO).

His area of expertise includes structural assessment, reinforced and pre-stressed concrete and ductility of high strength concrete and project management. Prior to his present appointment, he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development) (2011-2013) and the Director of the Office of Asset and Development (2008-1011). In his capacity as the then Director of the Office of Asset and Development, he was entrusted with a major task to manage the UTM campus development projects worth RM1 billion.

Professor Ramamurthy Nagarajan

Dr Nagarajan is currently Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Madras, and Dean of International & Alumni Relations. He obtained his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering in 1981 from IIT Madras, and a Ph.D. in the same field from Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA) in 1986. From 1986 – 1988, he served as Research Faculty in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV; during this tenure, he served as coordinator for research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy. From 1988 – 2003, Dr. Nagarajan was a Senior Technical Staff Member with IBM Storage Systems’ Development Laboratory in San Jose, CA, where he oversaw elimination of ozone-depleting chemicals from IBM’s manufacturing operations, and directed many ground-breaking efforts in the areas of chemical integration & micro-contamination control for hard disk drives.

Dr Nagarajan returned to Chennai in 2003, and served as G.S. Laddha Visiting Professor at A.C. College of Technology for one semester, prior to taking up his position as Professor at IIT Madras in February 2004. His teaching and research endeavours are focused on cleanroom processes, nano-technology and ultrasonic process-intensification. From 2009-2012, he served as Advisor, Office of Alumni Affairs at IIT Madras, and since October 2012, has been serving as the Institute’s first-ever Dean of International & Alumni Relations.

Professor Jing Na

Professor Jing Na is currently also a Marie Curie IIF Research Fellowship holder from European Commission Research Executive Agency and affiliated with the Department of Engineering at the University of Bristol.

He received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, in 2004 and 2010, respectively. He was a Visiting Researcher at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain in 2008, and a Joint PhD Student at the University of Bristol, U.K from October 2008 to September 2009. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the ITER Organization (France) from 2011 to 2013. He has published more than 80 papers obtained more than 500 citations since 2010. His H-index is 13. He is serving as a Principle Investigator (PI) for one EU project (Marie Curie Fellowship), two national natural science foundation of China (NSFC) projects, one Royal Society-Newton Mobility Grant jointly supported by NSFC of China and Royal Society of UK, and several other research projects. His current research interests include adaptive control, neural networks, parameter estimation, nonlinear control and applications.

Dr John Steele

Dr John Steele is Business Partnerships Manager at the University of Bradford and has over 20 years’ experience in senior technical roles in the chemical, polymer and related industries. He has a Ph.D in organic chemistry, an MBA and is author of 10 published patents.

Professor Hu Shougen

Professor Hu Shougen (born in Sep.1959) is member of Chinese Communist Party and the current President of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. He is professor, supervisor of PhD, expert enjoying the special government allowance and member of Shanghai municipal political consultative conference (CPPCC).

Participating in work in Sep. 1976, Hu Shougen served as director of rural working group in ji’an county Committee Organization Department of CPC Jiangxi province. From Feb. 1978 to Aug. 1987, he studied at Shanghai Jiao Tong University majoring in Ship and Ocean Engineering and won bachelor and masters and PhD degrees in engineering; From Aug. 1987 to May 2004, he worked at University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and successively acted as vice director of Department of fluid mechanics of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (formerly Shanghai Institute of Mechanical Engineering), deputy dean and executive vice president in school of energy and power engineering, director of academic affairs office, vice president of USST. From May 2004 to Jan. 2013, he held the post of president of Shanghai Second Polytechnic University.

From Feb. 1991 to Oct. 1992, Hu Shougen was a guest researcher at Mechanical engineering research institute of National Research Council of Canada，Ottawa. In 1994, he was promoted to professor and get doctoral tutor qualification in 1995. He was engaged in teaching and scientific research work in fluid mechanics, fluid machinery and fluid power engineering and made significant contributions in the fields of Ship propeller modification design and calculation, Polymer drag reduction and jet cutting, cavitating water jets, underwater high pressure water jet, and pipeage.

He was successively awarded “Shanghai New Expedition Shock Worker” “The National Outstanding Mechanical Teachers” “The Cross Century Academic Leader of the Original Mechanical Department” “National Key Talents Project on the First and Second Level Candidate”.