CSIR engineering geologist wins esteemed JD Roberts Award

摘要

Dr Phil Paige-Green, an acclaimed engineering geologist at the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), has been named winner of the 2008 JD Roberts Award. The award was handed to him at a function held in Pretoria on 22 July 2008. He received the award for outstanding research and innovation, with an international flavour, in the transport infrastructure field. His research has resulted in the application of products, improved materials usage and specifications for sustainable road construction, which have had great social impact. Dr Paige-Greene, a Fellow at CSIR Built Environment, is currently working on a project - worth more than R5 million - to develop a cost-effective way of using renewable sources, specifically waste products, in road binding materials. Given oil shortages, the environmental effects of fossil fuel usage and global climate change, various alternative binders needed to be investigated and developed by the CSIR. Consequently, a prototype binder based primarily on materials currently considered to be waste products has been developed.