Rate My Professor Dariusz Alterman

Dr. Dariusz Alterman is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Newcastle, part of the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. He joined the University in November 2009, becoming a member of the Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies and Utilisation. Alterman earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2005, with research on frost-resistant concretes, compressive and tensile strengths of high-performance concretes using artificial neural networks, machine learning, and statistical methods. Prior to this, he completed a second Master's degree in 1997 at Rzeszow University of Technology in Poland, focusing on internal forces in a cable-stayed bridge via finite element method analysis. His qualifications also include BEng (Hons1) and MSc in Structural Engineering, and BEng (Hons1) and MSc in Mechanical Engineering.

Alterman's postdoctoral career began with a competitive fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences at Tohoku Institute of Technology in Sendai, Japan (2005-2007), predicting concrete tensile strength using artificial neural networks. In 2007, he researched at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, assessing housing energy efficiency, mechanical strength, thermal resistance of panels, and heat flux simulations. At Newcastle, he led the Energy Efficiency Research Group, developing phase change materials applications for temperature control in buildings and greenhouses, funded by the Department of Industry and Investment. His research focuses on minimizing housing energy footprints via optimal building design, thermal mass and performance of structures, dynamic thermal response parameters such as the T-value for the Australian Building Code, climate change impacts on housing, slab-edge insulation, air gaps, ground temperatures, and AI tools for energy rating schemes. He collaborated with CSIRO on thermal performance studies. Awards include an Excellence in Teaching Award from Newcastle International College (2020) and fellowships from JSPS Japan (2005-2007), Foundation for Research Science & Technology New Zealand (2007), University of Newcastle and Thick Brick Australia (2009-2011), and Polish Academy of Sciences (2005). Key publications comprise 'The Impact of the Thermal Comfort Models on the Prediction of Building Energy Consumption' (2018), 'Optimising Building Energy and Comfort Predictions with Intelligent Computational Models' (2024), and 'Contribution of Thermal Resistance and Thermal Mass to the Energy Performance of Residential Buildings' (2015).