Dr. Yu (Roger) Dong completed both the ME degree with First Class Honours and the PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand before joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Curtin as a lecturer in July 2008. He was then promoted to Senior Lecturer in January 2012 due to his outstanding research and teaching performance. He is currently Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering, School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

Dr. Dong has research expertise in polymer nanocomposites, shape memory materials, electrospinning, additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence. He published over 100 SCI-indexed journal articles and more than 10 authored/edited technical books by Elsevier, Springer Nature, MDPI, etc. His research paper “characterisation and object-oriented finite element modelling of polypropylene/organoclay nanocomposites” was selected for the Best Paper Silver Award at ACCM-5 conference, 2006. Dr. Dong is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Materials (Polymeric and Composite Materials Section) and Applied Nanoscience, Springer Nature. He is a Member of Editorial Boards for Functional Composites and Structures, Materials Today Sustainability, Nanomaterials, Materials, Polymer Composites, Journal of Composites Science, SN Applied Sciences, etc. He was a keynote speaker to present “Eco-friendly polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/bamboo charcoal (BC) nanocomposites with superior mechanical and thermal properties” at ACCM-10 conference, 2016. Dr Dong and his PhD student Soheila Mohammadzadehmoghadam were jointly presented the Best Paper Award at ICFNNNM 2018 conference. He was honoured with the Finalist Award for “Waste Innovation of the Year” in WA Infinity Awards 2020 by the Western Australian Waste Authority. Dr. Dong and his PhD graduate Dr. Zainab Waheed Abdullah were jointly awarded James S Walker Award by the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3), UK.

Dr. Dong received the Award for Highest RPI Points for Publication for an Early Career Researcher (ECR) in 2011, Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence (Early Career) in 2012, and the Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence (Early Career) in 2013 at Curtin University.

With his excellent research mentorship, his PhD student Michael Max Brown won 2019 Australian Young Persons’ Lecture Competition (YPLC) and was selected as one of nine global finalists for 2019 The Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition (YPWLC) by IOM3. His PhD graduate Dr Haipan Salam received 2019 The Best Lecture Award by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Indonesia. He was a highly experienced mentor for Curtin BHP Billiton Award Winning Team in Sustainable Design and Appropriate Technology Theme in 2009 Engineers Without Border (EWB) Challenges Australia (among 7491 first year engineering students from 26 Australasian Universities).