13 September 2006
Monash University has announced the first senior academic appointment under its new Monash-China cooperative agreement.
Professor Dongyuan Zhao, whose research specialisation is the synthesis of porous materials -- particularly mesoporous and nano materials -- has begun his appointment in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering.
He is at Monash under the university's Special Guest Professorship Program, which is part of the Australia-China Consortium on Engineering Education and Research. The arrangement links Monash's Faculty of Engineering with several key universities in China, as well as Australian and Chinese industrial partners.
The program aims to introduce a number of outstanding Chinese professors to the Engineering faculty to conduct collaborative research and teaching in targeted areas, and to enhance the faculty's international research profile.
Under the scheme, Chinese academics will work a total of three months a year over three years at Monash, while still retaining their positions and continuing their academic work in their home countries.
Professor Zhao, a Distinguished Cheung Kong Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai, is world renowned for developing important new classes of nano materials, and he has published widely in prestigious journals such as Nature and Nature Materials.
Associate Professor Paul Webley, Associate Dean (Research) in the faculty, welcomed Professor Zhao to Monash.
"Professor Zhao will provide excellent leadership in his area of research specialisation," Associate Professor Webley said. "He will also supervise postgraduate researchers and facilitate collaboration between Monash and the partner universities in the consortium."
For more information contact Ms Robyn Anns, Media Communications on +61 3 9905 9317 or 0417 568 781. Photographs of Professor Zhao are available.
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