Two engineers from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering have been recognised for their contributions to engineering.

Engineering Awards for Cilliers and Zimmerman

 Two engineers from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering have been recognised for their contributions to engineering. Professor Jan Cilliers has been elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering to acknowledge his contributions to the engineering aspects of mine processing. Professor Robert Zimmerman has been awarded the Biot medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers to recognise his outstanding contributions in applying poroelasticity to rock mechanics and flow in fractured media.

Newly elected Fellow Professor Jan Cilliers is cited for his work in froth flotation technology, which uses bubbles to separate valuable minerals from mined rock. Professor Cilliers established the £6 million Rio Tinto Centre for Advanced Mineral Recovery at Imperial to develop innovative mining technologies and techniques for improving the way minerals are extracted. Professor Cilliers is developing new froth measurement techniques, models and equipment to separate minerals from rock more efficiently.

Professor Cilliers said: "Being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering for my work in froths is very exciting and I am very proud that it has been considered worthy of this great honour".

Professor Robert W. Zimmerman, was awarded the 2010 Maurice A. Biot Medal, for his outstanding contributions in applying poroelasticity to rock mechanics and flow in fractured media. His citation notes that he is a prolific researcher and has had a major impact on rock mechanics and theory of poroelasticity. He has made significant contributions to the study of fluid flow in fractured rocks, along with numerous contributions in the areas of rock mechanics, geophysics, and hydrology. He pioneered investigations of the effect of pore space geometry on the overall properties of porous materials, such as effective elasticity and permeability. He provided quantitative analyses of inclusions with radially variable properties - a problem of key importance for the micromechanics of concrete. Dr. Zimmerman also developed a methodology of direct incorporation of the image analysis data into the theoretical modeling.

In addition to his research Professor Zimmerman is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, and is on the Editorial Boards of Transport in Porous Media and the International Journal of Engineering Science. He is the author of the monograph Compressibility of Sandstones (Elsevier, 1991), and co-author, with JC Jaeger and NGW Cook, of Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics (4th ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2007). 

Links

• ESE Honours and Awards

Personnel

• Jan Cilliers
• Robert Zimmerman