Acknowledgement

26 October 2011

This could be the most awaited day for all PhD students.

A final thesis submission day!

Alhamdulillah, Allah is always very kind to me. I could come to Perth to do the revision and submit the final version of my thesis to Office R&D. 

Hopefully in the next few weeks there will be news about the graduation certificate, so I could be officially… such a ‘thing’ below (wink!).

(This photo was taken during an 'informal graduation' for International Student, organized by the International Office Curtin University, December 2010)

So, the journey of my PhD may have ended now… a bit sad, of course,

however, I’m definitely looking forward to experience another heroic journey in the future. Insha Allah.

During this journey, I’ve met and got some help from numerous people. I acknowledged them in the ‘Acknowledgement’ section in my thesis.

Acknowledgement

Alhamdulillah, ya Allah, finally I could accomplish my PhD study. Thank you very much for Your great hidayah and rahmah during this heroic journey.

I would like to acknowledge a number of people who supported me to produce this thesis.

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Hamid Reza Nikraz, the best supervisor that I have ever had, for his invaluable support, encouragement, assistance and guidance throughout this PhD study. I have learned a lot during this learning process mainly from the opportunities that were introduced by him.

I would like to acknowledge University of Riau my current employer in Indonesia. I also would like to thank the Australian Development Scholarship for the financial support and assistance. Thank you to Mr David Spiller, Mr Reza Reinanto, Ms Julie Craig, Ms Sarah Treagold, Ms Chris Kerin and Ms Kristen Soon for their support for me and my family during my study in Perth.

I received help and support from many wonderful technical staff in the department and laboratory of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing, Curtin University of Technology. Thank you very much to Mr Ashley Hughes, Mr Robert Cutter, Mr John Murray, Mr Carl Lewis, Mr Bradley Frank, Mr Mike Appleton, Mr Michael Ellis, Ms Karen Haynes, Ms Ann Carol, Mr Mark Whittaker, Mr Russel Wilkinson, Mr Jo Justin, Mr Jim Sherlock, Mr Mark Fowler, Prof Vijay Rangan, Dr Ian Chandler, Dr Prabir Sarker, Ms Liz Field, Ms Dianne Garth, and Ms Sucy Leong.

I am grateful to Dr Reza Javaherdashti, Dr Navid Mohamaeni and Prof Michael Borowitzka from Algae R&D, Murdoch University, Western Australia, for their help in some parts of my thesis; Dr John Fielder (Teaching & Learning Development) and Prof Jeanne Dawson (The Learning Support). I acknowledge Dr Navid Nikraz and Julia Lightfoot for helping me in proofread the final manuscript.

It is also important to acknowledge friends who always help and give me spark of ideas throughout my experimental work and analysis. Thank you very much to Dr Hanisom Abdullah, Dr Djwantoro Hardjito, Dr Iwan Hwan Harsono, Dr Noor Hakim bin Rafai, Dr Ee Hui Chang, Dr Miftahul Fauziah, Ms Mareese McCloughin, Pei Wen Lau and all the wonderful friends that I could not mention one by one here. Thank you for helping me in different aspects of my research.

On my journey, I met some scientists and engineers from Concrete Institute of Australia who gave valuable input for my research. Thank you very much to Dr Shindunata and Andrew Peek (GHD Pty), Dr David Law (RMIT), Dr Kwesi Sagoe-Krentsil (CSIRO), Dr Tony Song (Boral), Ms Elaine Miller (Centre for Material Research, Curtin University) and Nhu Nguyen (SGS Laboratory).

I’d like to give the biggest appreciation to my husband, Gunawan Wibisono, who’s very patient and helpful, always there for me in the good and bad times or up and down situation during my study. Thank you so much for your constant love, dear.

I’d like to thank my dear parents & parents-in law, Papa Hailubis & Mama Lisma Erni, Bapak Wadijono & Ibu Supiyani for their constant support, prayers and love for us. Finally, I am grateful to my sister Ms Paulina Atry, my brother Mr Wahyudi, sister Cut Wulan and my little niece, Alila.

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Please don't feel bad if you cannot find your name there. I didn't forget you when I wrote this page, besides, I've got so many friends to thank for their contribution. So, I just simply put everyone in this  sentences:

.... all the wonderful friends that I could not mention one by one here. Thank you for helping me in different aspects of my research...

(I think this is quite obvious)

Now, let’s get back to work… I mean, making plan for a weekend trip, as a reward for this big milestone.

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Perth,