At a Graduation Ceremony, held on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, in the Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash University’s Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Australia, Dr Dianne Q. Nguyen was officially conferred as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by the Deputy Chancellor of Monash University, Mr Ian Pyman.

The completion of the PhD candidacy by Dr Dianne Nguyen makes her the third former UICEE postgraduate candidate to receive the award since the closure of the UICEE in 2008.

Dr Nguyen’s doctoral dissertation is entitled Research issues in the design of a global curriculum for environmental engineering in the context of globalisation. The brief abstract of the thesis states that This thesis examines the history and evolution of environmental engineering education in the context of changing societal needs and demands, and discusses how it has developed into an engineering branch of its own merit. The current status and future directions of environmental engineering, as well as the major deficiencies in environmental engineering education are raised and examined. Important issues, such as the nature, structure, contents and specifics of environmental engineering programmes are investigated in the context of globalisation.

This PhD thesis received excellent examination reports. In recognition of the value of the thesis, one of the examiners stated that ...In this dissertation, Ms Nguyen undertakes two major and although distinct clearly related tasks. Her execution of both is outstanding and her connecting of the two is lucid and convincing. Her methodology is precise and entirely appropriate to her purpose. And, the examiner concluded by saying that ...This dissertation clearly fulfils the requirement of an original contribution to the scholarly literature and scientific research in the field. More than that it is an eminently useful treatise that should be of great benefit to many as they work to establish coherent programs in environmental engineering, especially in the context of global education. It is a very readable text and certainly publishable as a book with very little modification.

It is worthwhile mentioning that Dr Nguyen commenced her employment in the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (UICEE) on 4 December 1995, where she rose to the position of research fellow, and worked there until the closure of the Centre. In the course of her full-time employment, she completed her Honours in Engineering degree and, then, went on to complete her Masters in Engineering Science degree by research. This PhD award is the culmination of her long research career, which so far has resulted in the publication of over fifty peer-refereed conference and journal papers in the field of engineering and technology education, environmental engineering education and sustainability. Her present involvement with the WIETE is that she is the Academic Secretary of the WIETE-IAAC, and the Associate Editor and Manager of the WIETE journals.

Dr Nguyen is to be warmly congratulated on her exceptional achievement, and we look forward to her long and successful career as a scientist and researcher, developing and promoting engineering and technology education further.

The photo shows Dr Dianne Q. Nguyen, with her PhD supervisor Prof. Zenon J. Pudlowski at the Graduation Ceremony.