Doctoral thesis success: Leulseged Belay Addis
Congratulations to Leulseged Belay Addis for successfully defending his doctoral thesis titled “False Banana Fiber-Reinforced Alkali Activated Low-Calcium Fly Ash-based Geopolymer Composites: Development, Characterization, and Performance Evaluation” on 24th June 2024 at Bahir Dar University Institute of Technology (BiT), Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering, Ethiopia. Lulseged carried out his doctoral project co-supervised by Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini and he spent three periods of six month each as visiting researcher in our Institute funded by the DAAD sponsored Ethio-German Home-Grown Program. The doctoral thesis was co-supervised by Asso. Prof. Zenamarkos Bantie (PhD). Prof. Boccaccini attended the oral defense online. Prof. Boccaccini highlighted the comprehensive investigation carried out by Lulseged on the application of natural fibers from Ethiopian origin as reinforcement of fly ash based geopolymer composites, which constitutes a novel sustainable material with adequate mechanical properties. The thesis led to publications in well-known journals in the field (e.g. ref. [1-3]). Many congratulations to Lulseged for this achievement. We wish him all success in his professional career.
1. L.B. Addis, et al., “Degradation Kinetics and Durability Enhancement Strategies of Cellulosic Fiber-Reinforced Geopolymers and Cement Composites”, Advances in Materials Science and Engineering (2022).
2. L.B. Addis, et al., ״Characterization of False Banana Fiber as a Potential Reinforcement Material for Geopolymer Composites״, in: Advancement of Science and Technology, 2023.
3. L.B. Addis, et al., ״Optimization of Process Parameters for the Synthesis of Class F Fly Ash-based Geopolymer Binders״, J. Clean. Prod. 415 (2023) 137849.
