AUS engineering grad takes top prize at National Graduate Student Speaker Competition

An American University of Sharjah (AUS) civil engineering graduate took the top prize at the National Graduate Student Speaker Competition, organized by the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS).

Muhammad Irfan holds both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in civil engineering from AUS and placed first in the competition.

In addition to the $1,000 in prize money, Irfan got an opportunity to present his research to more than 500 delegates from around across the globe Oct. 2–5 at the 69th Canadian Geotechnical Society conference in Vancouver.

Irfan is part of the Southern Ontario section of CGS, and the research is part of his Ph.D. program at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

“I am extremely thankful to all my graduate studies supervisors: Dr. Zahid Khan, assistant professor in civil engineering at AUS, Dr. Giovanni Cascante and Dr. Dipanjan Basu from the University of Waterloo, for supporting me during my studies,” he said. “Dr. Khan especially has been a great motivator to me for undertaking my graduate studies at the University of Waterloo. The research for which I have been given this award was actually inspired mutually by Dr. Khan and Dr. Cascante. I would also like to thank the Department of Civil Engineering at AUS, where I launched my academic career by doing my bachelor's and master's degrees.”

Irfan gained his undergraduate degree at AUS in 2009; just two years later, he completed the master’s program at AUS under the direction of Khan and Dr. Magdi El-Emam, associate professor in Civil Engineering at AUS.

The CGS is a principal part of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) and was founded in 1947. The award is meant to recognize uniqueness in papers presented by geotechnical graduate students attending Canadian universities. It was established in 1988.