| Ever Enthusiastic Dr Abdullah A. Kafi |
| লিখেছেন Shafiul Islam | |
| Sunday, 19 December 2010 | |
Dedicated to Bronte sisters, Preetilota, Bahar, Shomir and Topee (♥♪♥)
Dr Abdullah A. Kafi is a talented scientist. He is a Research Academic, Carbon Fibre Processing and Manufacturing of Composites, in the Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre (AFFRIC), Deakin University, Australia. Following a Bachelor in Chemical
Engineering and Polymer Science degree from the Shah Jalal University
of Science and Technology, Bangladesh; Dr Kafi completed his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering (Composites), from the Institute for Technology Research and Innovation, Deakin University, Australia in 2010. In 2004–2005, as a Research Assistant, Polymer and Hybrid Composites, he served the Radiation
and Polymer Chemistry Laboratory, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission
in Dhaka. Currently, he lives in Melbourne, Australia with his son,
Rayan; and wife, Shimul.
 kafi_family_2
Here is a few words from Dr Kafi:
"I was born in
Brahmanbaria district and left my birthplace when I was 2 years old. We
are two brothers and one sister where I am the eldest. My younger sister
is just looking after her family like my mother who continuously given
tremendous efforts to build our family. My younger brother is completing
his MBA and also working for Banglalink telecommunication Ltd as an
Icon Manager. My father recently retired as a project director from
Platinum Jute Mills, Khulna, and I am currently living in Australia with
my 2 years old son and
Wife. My wife is a certified home and community worker specially trying
to help elderly peoples and also peoples with disabilities. I am
currently working for the university as a research and teaching academic
and as of August, 2010, organising events as a secretary on behalf of
Society of Plastics Engineer (SPE), ANZ."
Enjoy our interactions:
SI: Dr Abdullah-Al Kafi - welcome to biggani.org. Tell us your childhood and the most inspiring childhood memory.
AK: I
passed a major portion of my childhood within the industry controlled
residential area as my father served for several jute mills under the
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation. Due to his commitment; we were to
travel and live in several districts around the country which given me
an excellent opportunity to mix with peoples from various classes (from
industry worker to CEO) and also peoples having different religious
background. During that time, I can remember, my father had lot of
dreams with jute fibre, in 1990, he predicted that the peak time of
golden fibre jute will be over if proper initiatives are not taken to
diversify its products. A deep realisation and empathy has grown in my
mind from that time which is still inspiring me to do something best for
the community through my study and research.
SI: What do you miss in your child's childhood that you enjoyed most in your childhood?
AK: I
specially miss those times passing with my families including fishing,
long talk within dining tables, playing badminton, seeing some movies
together and specially the continuos sounds of weaving or spinning
machine around the jute mills.
SI: What are your critical research findings and how do they impact to innovation?
AK: During
my PhD, I studied the fundamental principles common to some statistical
thermodynamic models to understand the underlying mechanism of wetting
and adhesion in composite materials. I successfully utilised those
models and predicted the quantitative interaction between the
reinforcement (fibre) and polymeric resin (matrix). I also optimised
manufacturing process and treatment condition to produce high quality
biofibre reinforced composites with improved interface. I have been
successful so far in introducing jute to international scientific and
industrial community and my work proven jute as a potential reinforcing
fibre in composites when compared to its counterparts.
SI: In light of
your research, do you think we need more socially responsible
teacher-student and education-business model to address our emerging
issues like extreme economic inequality in the ever connected integrated
community?
AK: From
my little understanding, there should be existing little gaps between
teacher and student in order to address extreme economic inequality. For
example, when I was studying, I was always so respectful to my teachers
that never allowed me to sit in front of them. I found that interaction
actually pulled me behind from understanding the actual significance of
some topics. I observed the opposite scenario in Australia where there
is an excellent relationship between teacher and student allowing
students to learn anything in a better way then I experienced in mine.
SI: Today only 5%
of people have command on 95% of world's wealth. Many people live in
poverty. Has our education failed to build a civil society in our global
village? How can we overcome such extreme inequality in our
interconnected economy?
AK: As mentioned above….might need to think more
SI: I feel empathy
is the missing link in our contemporary education system to build a
civil society. What do you think? Do you foresee any change in our
education system to build a more socially responsible future generation?
If so, what form of education model do you recommend to address this
issue?
AK: Our
education system is always offering some extra loads to the students I
should say. We need to try to make our foundation from the primary
schools, rather than creating pressure to learn big books or encouraging
them to compete for better schools. We might need to teach them how to
solve maths and also how chemistry works in our daily life. Better to
make their study interesting by introducing some practical demonstration
and real life examples.
SI: Prof. Yunus
envisions one day we will see poverty in the museum. Can micro-credit
eliminate poverty? If not, what are the other alternatives that can make
a difference?
AK: Prof.
Yunus envisions obviously opened a new door for peoples who were
struggling with the poverty. I am not the right person to make any
comments on his work rather I should say the situation needs proper
monitoring on a regular basis just to make sure that helpless peoples
are not scared of paying high rate of interest imposed by the authority.
SI: Only a few
universities existed in Bangladesh not a long ago. Now we have more
choices, but, many people question about quality. They see education is
more business than building more socially responsible students who will
transform our future with empathy and equality. What should Bangladeshi
universities do to build a better tomorrow?
AK: I
would suggest our authorities to stress more on research than teaching,
to organise more practical work placement linking with the industry. I
also think the recruitment of university faculty should be based on
research and academic achievements than political consideration. We also
need to attract a significant number of brilliant national working
overseas so that they could also contribute to teaching and research.
Finally, I should
emphasize on establishing professional between local universities and
also to monitor their performance on a yearly basis and to set a same
performance indicator to all of the universities. Government should take
prompt initiatives in banning low performing universities and the
faculties who are doing teaching only for business. Bangladeshi Govt.
also should make sure that faculties within public universities are well
played and also have enough research support to establish a new
research area.
SI: How do you
like your current research commitments? What are your research
challenges? How are you turning the challenges into opportunities?
AK: I am
still trying to sort out how the actual fibre making processes can be
simulated within the bench scale laboratory environment. I also found
that there had been a lack of proper understanding in the quality of raw
materials and information provided in current literature is highly
restrictive. To overcome the challenges, I have been given continuous
efforts through interaction with academic and industry peoples,
reviewing literature to design own experimental methodology, and
preparing for trial and error experiment to achieve my target within the
set deadline.
SI: What is your advice to a prospective student/teacher who has a dream for higher education and changing the world?
AK: I
would say we should love and respect to our study or work and try to
become persistent with true commitments. We should never be influenced
on what other peoples are saying, better believe in
ourselves and achieve the level of confidence by continuous efforts. We
should never feel that we learned a lot as life is a continuous process
of learning.
SI: We appreciate
your valuable time today. We look forward to our face-to-face meeting
and interview. Anything do you like to add?
AK: It has been excellent answering your question Shafiul. I look forward to interacting more with you in future. Thanks.
SI: Thank you. Wishing the very best of your endeavors.
Selected Publications of Dr Abdullah A. Kafi:
1. Abdullah A. Kafi,
Kevin Magniez, Claudio Cinquemani , and Bronwyn L. Fox, “Influence of
Atmospheric Helium Plasma on the Surface Energy of Jute Fibres and the
performance of resulting Composites”, Journal of Adhesion Science and
Technology [Accepted: 08/11/2010]
2. Abdullah A. Kafi and
Bronwyn L. Fox, “Adhesion Force Measurement on Natural Fibre Surface
Using Scanning Probe Microscopy”, Journal of Adhesion Science and
Technology [Accepted: 20/12/2010]
3. Abdullah A. Kafi, Christopher J. Hurren, Mickey G. Huson, and Bronwyn L. Fox“Analysis
of the effects of atmospheric helium plasma on the surface structure of
jute fibers and resulting composite properties”, 2009, 23, 2109-2120, Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology
4. Abdullah A. Kafi,
and Bronwyn L. Fox, “Enhancing the Fiber-Matrix Adhesion in Woven Jute
Fabric Reinforced Polyester Resin based Composite”, Contact angle,
Wettability and Adhesion, 2009, Vol 6, pp.377-390, K. L. Mittal (Ed.), VSP, Leiden, The Netherlands.
5. Abdullah-Al-Kafi,
M.Z.Abedin, D.H.Beg, K.L.Pickering and M.A.Khan “Study on the
Mechanical Properties of Jute/Glass Fiber Reinforced Unsaturated
Polyester Hybrid Composites: Effect of Surface Modification by
Ultraviolet Radiation”, 2006, 25(1), 575-588, Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites.
ইমেইল:
shafiul_i@yahoo.com :: ওয়েবঃ textek.weebly.com :: 20101219:: www.linkedin.com/in/shafiul2009
মন্তব্যগুলো (2)
  লিখেছেন Shafiul Islam, February 20, 2012
Greetings Salma Akter,
Thanks for your inspirational thoughts. আব্দুল্লাহ কাফি |
