On behalf of colleagues at Straclyde university. Zoe

DEAD-LINE FOR APPLICATIONS OCT 20, 2006

John Anderson Research Lectureship in Advanced Experimental Geotechnology (Ref: JA/94/2006)

The post will normally be appointed at Lecturer A or lecturer B level, however, in exceptional cases candidates will be considered for a Senior Lectureship.

The Department of Civil Engineering seeks to recruit a research-focussed individual in the field of Advanced Experimental Geotechnology, to assist in its aim to set up a new World- leading laboratory, unique in the

. The position is for three years a reseach-mainly position after which the candidate will become a permanent academic staff member with usual administration and teaching duties.

Traditionally, the conventional approach to solving highly complex engineering problems has been to perform large numbers of macro-scale laboratory tests that perturb one or more external variables. In geomechanics, these tests result in a plethora of empirical equations that relate material behaviour to environmental conditions. In recent years, however, technological advances in other fields of science have provided an opportunity to gain a fundamental micro-level understanding of material behaviour Such research, in engineering materials, is in its infancy, and the potential exists for significant scientific advances that will transform our understanding of complex environments with applications both for natural materials and for the design of new geo-materials. Specific engineering challenges are highly multidisciplinary including: predicting material behaviour under low frequency dynamic loading such as that produced by wind farms and high-speed rail infrastructure; predicting changes to material properties in coupled thermal-hydro-mechanical-geochemical extremes such as medium and high level nuclear waste isolation; designing intelligent geomaterials for in-situ monitoring; and bioengineering of materials for ground improvement and contaminant remediation.

The post will support fundamental microscopic scale research investigating material properties in extreme environments with the explicit aim of bridging the gap to macroscopic engineering material behaviour. Research technologies proposed for the laboratory include an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) to visualise microscopic evolution of structure under controlled environmental change with integrated Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis for complete elemental fingerprinting, and Electro-Magnetic probes (EMP) for determining continuous temporal alteration of microscopic material properties.

The successful candidate will:

Investigate the fundamental properties of materials, bridging the gap between micro-scale material behaviour and macro-scale engineering design
Lead the development of a research laboratory designed specifically to control thermodynamic variables in macro-scale tests, in combination with simultaneous temporal micro-scale invasive and non-invasive monitoring technology

For details on John Anderson Lectureships in general and how to apply, see

http://www.lookforanswers.co.uk/

For details about the post and informal information, please email [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

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Dr Minna Karstunen
Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Strathclyde
John Anderson Building
107 Rottenrow
Glasgow G4 0NG
Scotland, UK
Tel.     +44 141 548 3252 (direct)
           +44 141 548 3277 (secretaries)
           +44 7787 517822 (mobile)
Fax.    +44 141 553 2066
Email:    [log in to unmask]