Professor Aliakbar Akbarzadeh

Research

In the last 10 years Professor Akbarzadeh's research projects have received more than $5.0M in cash and in kind from Federal and State Governments, Australian and overseas industries, etc. The funding bodies have been ARC, NERDDC, VSEC, VPSEC, Fujikura/Tokyo, City of Portland, DEET, Energy Victoria, Solahart, Australian Greenhouse Office, LWRDC ,and NAP.

Two books: Fundamentals of Remote Area Power Supply Systems, DOUC Print, Melbourne, 1992.

Heat Pipe Technology, Theory Applications and Prospects, Pergamon Press, U.K., 1997.

75 refereed journal articles and refereed conference proceedings (mainly on renewable energy and energy conservation).

More than 20 government/utility/industry Reports covering applications of solar energy and energy conservation.

Additional information

• Member of International Solar Energy Society
• Member of the organising committee and chairman of the technical committee for 1995 International Symposium on Energy, Environment and Economics, 1996
• Chairman of the 1996 International Symposium on Heat Pipes, Melbourne, Australia
• Chairman of the 9^th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural refrigerants, Sydney, Australia, April 2010
• Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Applied Thermal Engineering (Elsevier Applied Science, UK)
• Member of Scientific Committee, Saustralia Solar World Congress, ISES 2005, Florida,USA

Engaged in extensive consulting and collaborative projects with industry, government authorities and international organizations, including:

• Development of heat pipe temperature control for solar water heaters produced by Solahart in WA (1993)
• United Nations UNDP consultant on Renewable Energy Education in Syria (1990)
• Evaluation of Federal Government’s policies on promotion of energy savings in industry, Commonwealth Government, Australia (1992).
• Setting up manufacturing and testing facilities for heat pipe heat exchangers for industrial waste heat recovery, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya (1998)

Establishing R&D on energy conservation based on heat pipe technology, Department of Chemical Engineering Ferdowsi University, Mashad , Iran (2000 till present).

More than 30 years of teaching, research, project supervision, and consultancy in four major universities in Australia and overseas in the area of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation.

Present Position :Professor and Leader of Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy (CARE) Group in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne,Australia

Academic activities

• Regional Editor of Journal of Applied Thermal Engineering (Elsevier Applied Science, UK)
• Subject Editor, Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Volume, Encyclopedia of Life Support System
• Associate Editor, Solar Energy Journal (Pergamon,USA)

• B.Sc (Mechanical Engineering) ,University of Tehran,Iran, 1966
• M.Sc (Mechanical Engineering), University of Wyoming, USA, 1972
• Ph.D. (Mech. Eng.), University of Wyoming, USA, 1975

Employment history

• Consulting Engineer, Interco Tech. Co., Teheran 1966
• Postgraduate Research and lecturing in Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming, USA 1970-75
• Assistant Professor, Department Mech Eng. Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 1975-77
• Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 1977-80
• Chairman, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 1978-1980
• Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering ,University of Melbourne 1980 to 1981
• Research Supervisor and Project Manager, Victorian Solar Energy Council, Victoria 1981-86
• Lecturer (1986), Senior Lecturer (1988) and Associate Professor (1992) , and Professor (1996-present) Department of Mechanical Engineering (now School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering), RMIT University, Melbourne