A Distinguished Professor at a Victorian university has been awarded the Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year award by Engineers Australia.
Professor Mike (Yi Min) Xie of RMIT University in Melbourne, whose key activities are the development of new techniques for designing and manufacturing innovative structures and materials, and the application of new techniques to industrial projects, has received the prestigious annual award.
According to EA, the person awarded the Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year is an “eminent civil engineer who has made a major contribution to the sector, including the development of technology, contribution to the use of ecologically sustainable development and service to the engineering profession.”
Professor Xie is the Director of the CISM Centre for Innovative Structures and Materials Team within RMIT’s School of Engineering. His areas of research include structural optimisation techniques, structural analysis and design, architectural design.
EA Civil College Chair, Paul Collier, said Xie is an international authority on the optimisation of structures through the development of his ESO/BESO techniques which allow material to be removed and added simultaneously by redistributing underutilised material to the most needed locations.
“This technology enables the production of strikingly elegant designs of complex structures along with substantially reducing construction materials, “ Mr Collier said.
Professor Xie’s pioneering work in this field started in the early 1990s, laying the foundation for a broad range of applications internationally in engineering, architecture and materials science.
Originally from China, where he gained a BEng (Engineering Mechanics) in 1984, he studied a PhD (Civil Engineering) at Swansea University in 1991 in the UK before coming to Australia 30 years ago.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.