MENTEE – Abdul Basir Awan

Mr. Abdul Basir Awan set high standards in his life and worked meticulously to achieve them. The inquisitive nature of his personality motivated him to explore the neglected topics in the field of energy and mining technology. His professional and academic achievements comprise of internationally renowned scholarships each worth over AUD $100,000 in the field of engineering and technology in the USA and Australia. His graduate research work titled, “implementation of sustainability in bridge design, construction and maintenance” has been published in the transportation research board (TRB). At present, he has published one scientific paper and three more papers are going through the peer-review phase in high-end journals after the conclusion of first phase of doctorate research-work.

Mr. Awan started his professional career with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering by securing 35 “A-grades” with a CGPA of 3.80. He was also awarded “A-grade” in an individual research project. Afterward, he worked for 5 years in diverse construction projects to hone his professional skills. In the year 2009, he was selected for USA Fulbright Master’s Program Fall 2010. The scholarship pays for the tuition fee of US $105,342, living stipend of US $1385 per month, book allowance, health insurance and airfare. Mr. Awan joined Michigan State University and worked on a research project funded by the Michigan department of transportation for the development of a framework for sustainable bridges in Michigan. This was the first-ever project developed for rating and categorizing sustainable bridges in the USA. After graduation, Mr. Awan joined National University of Sciences and Technology as an academic faculty and supervised two undergraduate research projects on sustainable and energy-efficient materials. He introduced and evaluated student performance on objective-based education system. Furthermore, he assisted the United States Education Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) by conducting interviews and selecting undergraduate students for an exchange program in the USA. He was also part of the team which assisted Pakistan Engineering Council in becoming a member of the Washington Accord and permanent status was granted in 2017.

In the year 2018, Mr. Awan secured two international research scholarship awards based on his academic record and research skills. Eastern Michigan University (Michigan, USA) and Curtin University (Perth campus, Australia) selected him for the prestigious position of graduate research scholar. After deliberate thoughts, he ultimately opted for Australia, considering opportunities in the fast-growing energy and mining sector. He was awarded Curtin international postgraduate research scholarship of AUD 152,200 as tuition fee offset and a research stipend scholarship of AUD 27,082 per annum. In October 2018, he began his journey at Curtin University to pursue Doctorate at the faculty of sciences and engineering, with an aim to design, develop and analyze sustainable and energy-efficient structures for Australian construction industry.

Mr. Awan believe that the journey to achieve excellence never culminates. In the future, he will continue working in the field of research and development. The applied knowledge and research skills gained over the years will assist him in discovering the unexplored areas in energy and mining technology.