On the morning of June 28, President Liu Bo met with Prof. Moncef L. Nehdi, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Chair of McMaster's Department of Civil Engineering, Canada. The heads of School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, the Academic Affairs Office, and the International Cooperation and Exchange Office were also in attendance.
Liu Bo firstly extended a warm welcome to Fellow Moncef L. Nehdi for his visit. Liu Bo mentioned that Fellow Moncef L. Nehdi has long been engaged in researches on innovative building materials, net-zero carbon building, and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in civil engineering. He is a world-renowned expert in the field. In recent years, China University of Mining and Technology -Beijing has made significant research achievements in civil engineering materials, urban underground engineering, and intelligent construction. He expressed hope that the two universities could collaborate closely to enhance talent cultivation and discipline development in areas such as resource recycling of solid waste, low-carbon/negative-carbon building materials, and intelligent construction, thereby jointly contributing to the early realization of the "dual carbon" goals.
Fellow Moncef L. Nehdi expressed his sincere gratitude for the warm reception by the university. He noted that the research teams of the two universities have already established a good friendship, and that resource recycling of solid waste, low-carbon building and geotechnical engineering materials, and intelligent construction are important areas for joint research. He expressed a desire to further deepen exchange and cooperation in the future.
During his visit to the university, Fellow Moncef L. Nehdi also delivered a lecture titled "Shaping Sustainable Global Civil Infrastructure: A Systems Thinking, Deep Generative AI, and Performance-Based Approach for Mitigating Embodied and Operational Carbon" to faculty and students of relevant disciplines. The lecture was warmly received by the audience.
Moncef L. Nehdi, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, is among the top 0.15% of globally cited scientists according to Stanford University (H-index: 71, citations: over 19,200). He serves as the deputy chair of the RILEM Technical Committee DCS on data-driven concrete science, chair of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Mechanics Division, chair of the CSCE sub-committee on cement and concrete. Additionally, he is past Chair of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) committee on recycled materials, and was co-chair of the Infrastructure Division of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)’s Discovery Grant Committee.
