Prof. Daichao Sheng receives Vice-Chancellor's Award for Supervision Excellence
The Vice Chancellor's Award for Supervision Excellence recognises the important role supervisors play in supporting our PhD and research masters students. The Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment's 2014 award recipient was Professor Daichao Sheng, Head of Discipline for the School of Engineering, who is currently supervising five civil engineering PhD students.
Professor Sheng's current postgraduate students concur with the award, having nothing but praise for his supervisory skills.
"Daichao has provided me with generous support throughout my studies both as an undergraduate and postgraduate student. He is always available to answer questions, demystifying complex topics such as unsaturated soils into clear fundamental principles, and presents a research environment that is both challenging and stimulating", explains Glen Burton.
Student Pooya Karambakshs explains his regard for Professor Sheng: "Other than his vast knowledge of geomechanics, I've always appreciated Daichao's patience, open-mindedness and support that lets me examine different approaches in my research and helps me learn more. I truly believe that Daichao deserves this award and more and am pleased he has been officially recognised for his dedication to his students".
Past student Yousef Ansari firstly comments on his delight
on being given the opportunity to complete his PhD under Professor Sheng's
direct supervision. "Daichao helped me extend my thinking well beyond my
preliminary limits and he encouraged me to develop my ideas independently, have
a meticulous eye for detail and find my own methods of investigation. With no
doubt, I owe my current progress and achievements to his efficient supervision
during my postgraduate study."
"Working with PhD students is a satisfying and rewarding experience. We are not only solving challenging scientific and engineering problems, we are also training the next generation of research leaders. It satisfies me most to see my students and research associates doing well in their career," explains Professor Sheng.
With a Bachelor of Science from Lanzhou University in China and a Licentiate in Engineering and a PhD from Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, Professor Sheng's research expertise covers the areas of unsaturated soil mechanics, computational geomechanics, constitutive modelling and testing of geomaterials and geo-environmental engineering.
In his role as Co-Director of the Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical and Materials Modelling, Professor Sheng will be chief investigator for a large 2015 ARC-funded study on the mechanics of hard soils and soft rocks, and will also be an investigator on another 2015 ARC-funded study on unsaturated soil-structure interaction with emphasis on buried pipelines.
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