Hudds metrologist takes top national award
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 14:48:00 BST
Dr Hussam Muhamedsalih has been awarded the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers Beloe Fellowship
UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield researcher Dr Hussam Muhamedsalih is at the heart of a project that will lead to faster and more cost-efficient manufacturing. Now, an important UK scientific body has singled him out as a high flyer in his field.
The London-based Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers (known as SIM) is a modern livery company with roles that include aiding government policy in measurement standards. It makes several awards, the highest of which is the SIM Beloe Fellowship, which supports an outstanding post-doctoral researcher with £5,000 per year over three years.
A delighted Dr Muhamedsalih, who obtained both his Master’s and PhD at the University of Huddersfield, has been named as the 2016 recipient of the Fellowship.
The Worshipful Company states that: “We make no bones about it, the SIM Beloe Fellowship is aimed at high flyers. It is our way of encouraging development of our craft. It is a forward-looking award based on past achievement and continuing excellence”.
After he was nominated and shortlisted for the award, Dr Muhamedsalih travelled to London to give a one-hour presentation on his work in the University’s EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology/Centre for Precision Technologies, where he has played a key role in the development of an optical interferometry system that can carry out micro and nanoscale measurement of surfaces and check for defects during the manufacturing process.
Dr Muhamedsalih was competing against candidates from Imperial College and City University in London, but his presentation secured the coveted SIM Beloe Fellowship. His three years as a SIM Fellow is now underway, although he will be formally invested at an event in October, when he will don the ceremonial robes of the Worshipful Company.
At the University of Huddersfield – where, as a Research Fellow, his line manager is the eminent metrologist and engineer Professor Xiangqian (Jane) Jiang and the Director of the CPT, Professor Liam Blunt – Dr Muhamedsalih will continue to work on improvements to the interferometer, which has exceptional potential in many areas of advanced manufacturing, such as solar energy, printable electronics and medical devices.
In 2014, the system was named winner in the Manufacturing Technology category of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Innovation Awards, selected from over 400 entries from 22 countries.
“My vision is to integrate the development of advanced metrology instrumentation within a high-value manufacturing context, enabling measurement and manufacturing on the same platform. This can assist manufactures to enhance performance and lower the cost of their products, making them more competitive,” says Dr Muhamedsalih.
He was born in London but raised in Iraq and studied in Baghdad. After his first degrees in laser and optoelectronics at Al-Nahrain University he came to Britain for further Master’s study, choosing the University of Huddersfield. He moved on to PhD research, supervised by Professor Jiang and Dr Feng Gao, and was awarded his doctorate in 2013.
The SIM Beloe Fellowship is his second honour from the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers. In 2013, he received its Postgraduate Award, in recognition of his ground-breaking work on the prototype for the optical interferometer. The system is patented and is now being developed for commercial use by the Netherlands-based IBS Precision Engineering. It is due to go on the market later this year.
