Rotana Hay
Research Scientist and Lab Manager
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Research Areas: Alternative binders for concrete, high performance fiber-reinforced concrete, concrete durability, energy-efficient buildings,
Dr. Rotana Hay is a Research Scientist and Laboratory Manager in the Advanced Materials and Building Efficiency Laboratory (AMBER Lab), Department of Civil Engineering at New York University Abu Dhabi. Rotana received his Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2008 and his MSc from Imperial College of London in 2009. From 2010 to 2012, he worked as a structural engineer for Arup Singapore. In 2011, he won Fulbright Science & Technology award to pursue his PhD at University of California, Berkeley. His PhD research focused on the development of a new concrete composite called High-Performance Green Hybrid Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (HP-G-HyFRC) and its applications for sustainable infrastructure and buildings. The work encompassed the performance-based design of the composite, its durability studies with respect to corrosion, its application in an innovative double-skin façade system for cooling energy reduction and associated life cycle assessment. He was also involved in the study of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) mitigation using fibers and supplementary cementitious materials. He completed the PhD program in 2015 with minors in Materials Science and Engineering & Business for Sustainability.
After the PhD, he put his knowledge into practice by working as Technical Manager for a ready-mixed concrete company in Cambodia. He was responsible for quality improvement, mix optimization, capacity development of the technical team and bringing innovation to the company. He was also the lead in ISO 9001-2015 certification process and its implementation.
His research interest includes material characterization, new cements for reduced environmental footprint, durability assessment of concrete composites, their application for sustainability and life cycle assessment. His current research topics cover morphology and mechanical property study of hydration products, structure and electrochemical characterization of passive film of carbon steel in concrete, 3D printing of ultra-lightweight concrete, and feasibility assessment of seawater use in concrete production. At the start of his work at NYU Abu Dhabi, he also assisted in the set-up of AMBER laboratory.