Muhammad N. S. Hadi

Hadi earned his B.Sc. (Hons) in Civil Engineering and his M.Sc. in Structural Engineering from the University of Baghdad, Iraq in 1977 and 1980, respectively. Between 1975 and 1984, he worked at the Rafidain Engineering Laboratory, the Air Force during his military service, and the Al-Mustansiriya Consultancy Bureau in Baghdad. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Leeds in 1989. Hadi began his academic career as a lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Technology in Baghdad in 1985, a position he held until 1992. Between 1993 and 1994, he worked as a research assistant at the University of South Australia before joining the University of Wollongong as a lecturer in 1994, later becoming senior lecturer in 1999, associate professor in 2004 and professor in 2022. == Research ==

Hadi has studied the application of materials in construction, with emphasis on material performance, enhancement, and optimization. His research in high-strength concrete investigated the behavior of externally reinforced high-strength concrete columns when subjected to eccentric loading and evaluated its effectiveness within external confinement with FRP composites. In other research, he calculated the optimum design of beams under different loadings using neural networks and showed that neural networks are comparatively effective for solving a vast number of structural engineering problems. In his later work, Hadi employed the Taguchi method to find the best mix for geopolymer concrete, using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) as a substitute for regular cement. He subsequently demonstrated that the setting time improved with the addition of metakaolin and silica fume. In related research, he investigated different factors affecting the strength, setting time, and workability of geopolymer pastes and after testing different mixes, found that the best mix consisted of 40% of GGBFS, 0.5 of Al/Bi ratio, 2.0 of SS/SH ratio, and an Aw/Bi ratio of 0.15. Hadi's work has been cited 9,600 times according to Scopus. ==Awards and honors==

• 2005 – Fellowship, American Society of Civil Engineers • 2005 – Fellowship, Engineers Australia • 2016 – Honorary Adjunct Professor, Ton Duc Thang University, Vietnam • Life Member, the Australasian Slag Association (ASA). ==Bibliography==