PROF DR. MD ABUL KALAM has won the title of ASTRA 2023 under “Biomass-Hydrogen Adaptation Fuels Towards Sustainable Net-Zero Emissions”. Prof Kalam is originally from Bogura (Kichak), Bangladesh, and currently living in Australia with permanent resident status under a global talent visa. He is currently working as an academic staff in the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Previously he worked as an academic staff in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Malaya from 2008 to 2021. His research specialization is in Internal-combustion engines, Biodiesel/Biofuel, Lubricant testing, and Engine Tribology. Prof Kalam obtained his undergraduate degree from Bangladesh Institute of Technology (B.I.T) Khulna, known as Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), and his Master’s & PhD from Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. Recently, Prof Kalam’s name appeared in the list of “Highly Cited Researchers” in the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021” in recognition of ranking among the top 1% of researchers for the most cited documents in engineering by Web of Science and Clarivate Analytics.
Furthermore, he received ‘Universiti Malaya’s Excellence Award in 2017’ for outstanding achievement in the “Academic Staff with Most Highly Cited Paper (Sciences) ” category and the Excellence Service Award in 2018. In addition, he received Malaysia’s research star award in the years 2018 and 2019. He has also obtained many gold, silver and bronze medals in several research expos and international conferences. As a major achievement: (i) he was involved in the development and testing of a new compressed natural gas direct injection (CNG/DI) engine while performing his PhD program at the University of Malaysia, (ii) he was also involved in diesel engine testing using biodiesel obtained from palm oil, and (iii) biolubricant testing for extreme pressure characteristics in boundary lubrication. His current active research is (i) improving the heating value of liquid fuels using carbon and non-carbon base additives and (ii) biomass-hydrogen adaptive fuels as sustainable energy resources. His research information can be viewed using the link as (i) ResearcherID: B-8995-2010 (326 papers, Citations 14,889, H-Index 73); (ii)Scopus Author ID: 55103352400; (iii) Orcid:0000-0002-4510-6170 (v) Loop profile: 2031946.
He has worked on many research projects on alternative energy for IC engines. He has completed research projects (at the PI@University of Malaya. Malaysia): 8, and one project is ongoing at UTS @ Australia. He has completed more than 15 consultant jobs related to his expertise, such as biofuel, CNG, LPG and hydrogen tests in IC engines: biolubricant testing for wear preventive and extreme pressure characteristics.
He is active in several professional memberships such as SAE(USA); ACS(USA); IEB(Bangladesh), (Mbot and MIEM, Malaysia); Mytribos (Malaysia), CEng IMechE (UK).
He has supervised 11 PhD students, 25 Master students (By research) and 11 students (by master course), and over 100 undergraduates. All these supervision works were done between 2008 to 2022. In 2023, he is supervising two PhD students, one master’s student and five undergraduates at UTS, Australia. His latest ongoing research project in 2023 is an experimental test and optimization of energy additives for combustible fuels to lower pollutants gases. Mainly he is involved in environmental-related research activities-(a) Reducing global warming gases using alternative fuels, (b) Biolubricant testing, (c) Additive testing for fuels and lubricants. He has been placed in a research centre named “The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UTS, Sydney, Australia.