Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Doctor of Sciences (Engineering), Professor, Academician Mikayel G. Melkumyan (born on June 10, 1951) started his scientific and practical activity in 1973, immediately after graduation from the Civil Engineering Department of Yerevan Polytechnic Institute, carrying out both design and experimental-theoretical research works to study the behavior of various reinforced concrete structures under seismic actions. In 1983 he led the Department of Earthquake Resistant Construction at the Armenian Scientific-Research Institute of Construction and Architecture. After the Spitak earthquake of December 7, 1988 in Armenia, he carried out the deep analysis of consequences of this and other earthquakes and reasons for extensive destructions of various buildings and structures. His research at the Institute of Industrial Science the University of Tokyo resulted in the Melkumyan Hysteresis Model, enhancing the understanding of shear behavior in structures. During a short period of time in 1995-1996, devoting him to the challenge of increasing the earthquake resistance of existing buildings, he developed two unique methods of protecting existing buildings from earthquakes through base isolation, as well as by isolated upper floor and upper slab (roof isolation) without interruption of the use of the buildings. His patented technologies have been extensively implemented in seismic isolation designs for various buildings. During several years starting from 2003 he was developing and implementing a new original approach in applying clusters of small size rubber bearings in isolation systems of seismic isolated buildings. These works are unprecedented in the world practice of earthquake resistant construction of the time. He is the president of the Armenian Association for Earthquake Engineering, CEO of the “Melkumyan Seismic Technologies” LLC, and has served on various international committees and editorial boards. His scientific and engineering works are widely recognized among scientists and engineers of many countries. Of the designed by him seismic isolated buildings, the total number of already constructed and retrofitted buildings has reached to 60, making the number of seismically isolated buildings per capita in Armenia one of the highest in the world (second after Japan). The number of already manufactured in Armenia and tested under his leadership seismic isolators exceeds 5500. He authored and co-authored 260 scientific works, including 21 books (6 monographs). His books were published in Armenia, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, UK, India, and USA. 175 of his scientific works have been published in international journals and proceedings of the World, European, and International Conferences in 36 countries. He has designed 107 earthquake resistant residential, civil, and industrial buildings for construction or retrofitting in different regions of Armenia and of Nagorno Karabakh, Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Peru and Turkey.

Dr. Noriyuki Suyama is an Associate Professor in Toyo University, Japan. His publications and research interest focus primarily on Global Marketing and Customer Relationship Management with quantitative methods. He was also engaged in commercial real estate management and food business as a general manager and a CEO, respectively in overseas markets. His overseas assignment totals more than 10 years, mainly in Southeast Asia. Currently, he is also an adjunct faculty of Marketing Research and International Marketing at Metropolitan University of Tokyo and Sophia University, respectively. Dr. Suyama belongs to Japanese Society of Marketing and Distribution, Japan Marketing Academy, Japan Society for Southeast Asia Studies, Fashion Business Association and Japan Halal Association. He is a member of Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) Council, who consults with clients.

Jean-Simon Venne is a co-founder and CTO of BrainBox AI. As a technology expert specializing in the fast and efficient migration of technological innovations to commercial applications, Jean-Simon has over 25 years of experience developing and implementing new technology to solve long-standing commercial issues in the fields of telecommunications, biotechnology, and energy-efficiency. Prior to joining BrainBox AI, he was responsible for the successful integration of M2M technology in over 200 Smart Buildings across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Jean-Simon holds a B.Eng. in Industrial Engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and a Certificate in Logistics from the University of Georgia Tech.

Chee-Ming Chan is an Associate Professor with the Civil Engineering Technology Department, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. She is presently holding the office of Deputy Dean in Academic and Research at the Centre for Graduate Studies in the University. Her area of expertise includes geo-materials, engineering education and higher education improvement. More recently, Dr. Chan’s current work on dredged materials from Malaysian waters has gained momentum and support from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and Department of Marine, Malaysia. She is also involved in professional bodies, including the Society for Engineering Education Malaysia (SEEM), Malaysian Geosynthetics Society (MyIGS), Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), and is an education quality auditor for the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA). From 2009-11, Dr. Chan served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), Japan.

Hen Friman holds Ph.D. and Master's degrees from Bar-Ilan University. His master's thesis investigated the effect of Cyt1Aa on prokaryotes, and his Ph.D. research focused on energy production from aromatic chemical degradation of bacteria Using "Bio-Fuel Cells".
Since 2012, Dr. Friman is a researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering. He is currently the academic director at the Renewable Energy & Smart Grid Excellence Center at the HIT-Holon Institute of Technology.
Dr. Friman developed an innovative teaching method for a "paperless" laboratory in the field of solar, wind, and water energy. He also managed the "Energy Supervisor" training program at HIT.
He was part of the team responsible for developing "Pre-Project and Developing Soft Skills for Engineers" for the undergrad B.Sc. students. The purpose of the course is to define and improve the "toolbox courses" that will provide students with employability skills - Teamwork, effective management of time, risk and quality control, design excellence, and presentation excellence
Dr. Friman's research interests include renewable energy, fuel cells, microbial fuel cells, water and wastewater treatment, chemical engineering, ecological education, and academic collaboration.

Prof. Tapas K. Das, PhD, PE, BCEE, FAIChE, FICS, is a Chemical and Environmental Engineer, a Fellow member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, and Indian Chemical Society; Past Chair of the AIChE's Environmental Division; Former Chair of the Air Pollution Control Committee of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Board Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE) and Board of Trustee with the Academy; former senior environmental engineer at the Washington Department of Ecology; since 2005 Prof. Das has been teaching at Saint Martin's University, Washington; formerly Assistant Professor in Paper Science and Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point; supervised MS and PhD students; served as an external examiner for Chem. Eng. Program at the University of Surrey, UK, IIT Roorkee and Calcutta University. Dr. Das holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, and PhD from Bradford University, UK. Dr. Das was a postdoctoral fellow at London’s Imperial College of Science and Technology, and a visiting scientist at Princeton University. Dr. Das is a registered professional engineer (PE) in the states of Washington and Wisconsin. Prof. Das serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management, published by International Society of Waste Management, Air and Water. Prof. Das is the author of two textbooks, co-editor of a book entitled: Remediation of Plastic and Microplastic Waste, 16 book chapters, and over 50 publications.

Danial Mohammadzadeh S. is currently lecturer. He received degree in Civil Engineering in field of Geotechnical Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and has over ten years of experiences and teaching in Building Construction, Geotechnical Engineering, and Environmental Analyses projects. He has authored over sixty publications in archival journals and conference proceedings, eleven inventions, eleven research projects and four books which have been cited for over 951 times and h-index 14 by different researchers around the world. All of the papers have been published to the best journals and conferences. He is a lecturer in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran, Azad University of Mashhad, Technical and Vocational University of Khorasan Razavi Province (Montazei Technical University of Mashhad) in Iran, Eqbal Institute of Higher Education Lahoori and Sama University. Also, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and Azad University of Mashhad, co-supervisore in the dissertations of a number of graduated students in Universities of Mashhad and an associate member of ASCE. In addition, he is a member of the Editorial Board four journals, Regular Reviewer of five journals, fifteen international conferences and speaker invitation in six international conferences (Canada, Rome, etc). He was mayor advisor in Mashhadd. He has received some award certificates for researching, patents and research projects. Furthermore, he is supreme consultant action of Khorasan Razavi Inventor Association and he is director of researches and Elite of Khorasan Construction Engineering Organization and head of Geotechnical unit of Khorasan Razavi Construction Engineering Organizations. (2018- Present)

Lukas Sihombing is an expert in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in infrastructure, project management, project finance and financial model in infrastructure, risk management (project & corporate), and system dynamics.
He earned his Doctorate in Civil Engineering (Project Management concentration) from the Universitas Indonesia (2018) and Master in Civil Engineering (Project Management concentration) from the Universitas Indonesia (2005) and Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Hasanuddin (1991).
Now, Lukas as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Universitas Pembangunan Jaya and as a lecturer of construction project management.
He has more than 30 years of professional experience in construction and engineering management of large-scale projects, including harbor toll roads, and integrated transportation systems all over Indonesia.