Two new Senior Lecturers join Materials Engineering at Monash
Two new continuing Senior lecturers have recently been appointed at Materials Engineering. Dr Qizhi Chen, specialises in biomaterials and joins us from Imperial College, London. Dr Nick Birbilis is an undergraduate and PhD alumni from the department who, after researching in the US has been with us for the past year or so as a Research Fellow. We welcome both to the department and share some of their background.
Qizhi Chen
Qizhi is currently working in the field of cardiac tissue engineering with a stem cell group in the National Heart and Lung Institute and a biomaterial group in the Materials Department at Imperial College London. Previously she also worked for the University of Cambridge and University of Hong Kong. She graduated from Northeastern University (China) in Physics (1985) and was then awarded a doctor degree in Metallurgical Physics at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (1991). For the next number of years she built up a very good research portfolio in metallic materials. She was first at The University of Hong Kong researching the area of microstructural analysis using TEM. She then worked at the University of Cambridge as a Postdoctoral Research Associate working on creep and fatigue properties of superalloys. Following this she was back at the University of Hong Kong as a Research Lecturer for a few years, working in areas including the development of injectable bone cements. In 2004, with a desire to move more fully into the area of biomaterials, she made the interesting move to start a second PhD studies in the field of biomedical engineering at Imperial College London, and completed her PhD thesis in just one and half a years! She has built up a very good record in the area of biomaterials.
She now has diverse and very multidisciplinary research activities and interests. Her research in biomaterials and tissue engineering includes the development of new bioceramic, polymeric and composite materials, the fabrication of novel tissue scaffolds and the design of translatable approaches towards the clinical applications of bone and cardiac tissue engineering. She also invests research efforts in exploiting tissue engineering and regeneration of other vital organs, such as lung and nerve. Her research in cell biology and regenerative medicine includes the mechano-directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells, the design of bioreactors and combinatorial approaches towards tissue regeneration. In the field of nanotechnology, for example, her interests include nanoparticles used to create dynamic imaging of beating heart, biosensors and drug/gene delivery systems for the diagnosis and treatments of cancers.
Nick Birbilis
Nick received his Bachelors degree (with Honours) and PhD in Materials Engineering from Monash University. As a Senior Research Fellow for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals, Nick has led the Surface Engineering activities of the Centre (as Program Leader). Prior to this, he held a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship at the Fontana Corrosion Center at The Ohio State University; engaged in both fundamental research and research programs including the likes of NASA, Alcoa and Northrop Grumman. Nicks research interests lie in the two key domains of Surface Engineering and Electrochemical Materials Science. This entails multi-disciplinary approaches for modification of materials structure and chemistry, electrochemical engineering and corrosion and corrosion control. This includes all of analytical materials characterization such as TEM, SEM, Diffraction, stereology, Scanning Probe Microscopy and advanced electrochemical analysis (transient methods, Fourier transform methods and kinetic methods covering the macro to nano continuum). Nicks future research includes novel approaches to surface treatment, modification, coating and alloy design with the objective of delivering materials with appropriate combinations of bulk and surface properties (for a range of industries), one example being the development of Gradient Structures.
He is also very interested in “passivity” of metals. Although the phenomenon of passivity has been known for over 100 years, a satisfactory description of passivity still eludes us, and Nick is exploiting the ability to be able to probe phenomena on the nano-scale. Since passive films are non-equilibrium structures, efforts are focused towards re-defining the conditions for the existence of passivity in terms of kinetics, as opposed to the present descriptions based on ‘equilibrium thermodynamics, together with elucidating the materials factors which dictate such kinetics.
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Meet some Materials Personalities
Colleen Bettles
Colleen has a BE in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland, and her PhD from RMIT. After completing her Bachelor's degree, she worked in industry for several years – as Technical Manager for firstly a technical ceramics company and secondly for a large PVC fabricator. On moving to Australia, Colleen started an 18 year stint with CSIRO Materials Science. Her initial research centred on diamond-ceramic composite materials, and this led to a PhD which focussed on the mechanical behaviour of these composite systems. The majority of her time at CSIRO was however occupied with the deformation and precipitation behaviour of magnesium alloys and the relationships which exist between microstructure and mechanical properties. A long involvement with the CAST CRC resulted in the development of a creep resistant magnesium casting alloy for engine block applications. This targeted alloy development, with quite specific property specifications, is always a trade off and involves many iterations between microstructural modification (precipitation reactions during ageing) and the subsequent deformation mechanisms. The effect of microstructure on the creep behaviour and dislocation interactions of alloys are areas of specific interest, which have carried over to Colleen's current position as a Senior Research Fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals (CoE DLM). Her current work concentrates on the microstructure/property relationships in Titanium and its alloys. There is a strong interest in developing alloys specifically for powder metallurgy processing, where there are opportunities to explore beyond the conventional titanium alloy compositions which are restricted by the complexities of the molten processing route. In this area, the CoE DLM is involved in a 3 year collaboration with CAST CRC and CSIRO Light Metals Flagship, to investigate alloying and processing opportunities for a range of Ti alloys. As well as leading one of the research projects, Colleen has the overall responsibility for the complete suite of projects under this collaboration.
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Jenny Pringle
Dr Jenny Pringle studied chemistry at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She received a Bsc (Hons) (1st class) in Chemistry with Industrial Experience in 1998, which included working at BP Chemicals in London for a year studying the development and synthesis of catalysts for polyketone synthesis. She then stayed at Edinburgh to do her PhD, which she completed in 2001. Her PhD research focused on ionic liquids, which are a relatively new type of solvent composed entirely of ions that are useful for a range of synthetic and electrochemical applications. At that time, research in the area was scarce, and investigations
focused on the synthesis of new types of ionic liquids and their use in catalysis. Since then, publications in this area have doubled every two years!
Her research into ionic liquids continued at Monash University, within the research groups of Prof Doug MacFarlane and Prof Maria Forsyth. She took up a position as Research Fellow in the School of Chemistry in 2002, in association with the Centre for Green Chemistry, developing and analyzing new types of ionic liquids. In 2004 she moved to the Department of Materials Engineering when she received a Discovery grant from the ARC. This grant focused on the synthesis of conducting polymers in ionic liquids, when it was discovered that using these new solvent media could produce polymers with unusual morphologies and enhanced electrochemical properties. Her work included the electrochemical synthesis of films of conducting polymers such as poly(pyrrole) in different ionic liquids, and investigating the influence that different types of ionic liquids have on the performance and morphology of the films. She also investigated the first chemical synthesis of poly(pyrrole), poly(terthiophene) etc. in ionic liquids, which yields the polymers as nanoparticles. Jenny is now starting a QEII fellowship, in association with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, which focuses her research into the area of solar cells. The use of ionic liquids and ionic plastic crystals (the solid state analogue of ionic liquids) as electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells is being studied. These materials have great potential in such devices as they have no vapor pressure and will therefore not evaporate with long-term use. In addition, the solar cell applications of the conducting polymers synthesized in ionic liquids are being investigated.
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Bjørn Winther-Jensen
Dr. Bjørn Winther-Jensen joined Monash University in 2006 as post doc and later same year obtained an ARC research fellowship on switchable interfaces. Bjørn Winther-Jensen got his degree in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark in 1995 and thereafter worked in the industry (the NKT Group, Denmark) developing halogen free cables and participating in the invention, development and commercialising of the Softplasma® technology as inventor and project manager. The plasma processes are used to coat “difficult” materials such as Teflon™ and silicone-rubber with functional coatings containing chemical groups, which can act as “handles” for further chemical reaction and thereby bond e.g. glue, paint or bio-molecules covalently to the substrate. The technology can be used to design surfaces and interfaces for a wide range of materials including metals, ceramics and polymers After re-joining academia his experience on surface and interface modification became useful for developing stable conducting polymer coatings with record-breaking conductivities and maximum current densities.
The conducting polymer coating can be applied to most substrates using conventional printing and painting techniques followed by in-situ polymerisation. The research has been focused on investigation of the conducting polymer poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT), which shows the best stability among the conducting polymers by withstanding temperatures up to 250°C and long-term performance over several years.
The unique combination of plasma-polymerisation and conducting polymers is the focus of his current research within two areas: Firstly, on developing switchable interfaces allowing control of properties such as wettability, adhesion and permeability of plasma-polymerised thin-film coatings on conducting polymers. Switchable surfaces are believed to have the capability to significantly enhance and simplify the purification of protein-based drugs. Secondly, on implementing and further developing the conjugated polymers obtained by vapour phase polymerisation for use in metal-air batteries and fuel-cells, substituting expensive catalytic elements such as Platinum. Here plasma-polymerisation is used to provide the necessary bonding of conducting polymers the membrane substrates. Both projects are in collaboration with the ARC Centre for Electromaterials Science, which sits across both the Materials Engineering and Chemistry departments.
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and some past students.....
Chamini Mendis
Greetings from Land of the Rising Sun, It has been almost 2 years since I left the surroundings at Monash University to join Prof Hono’s group at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan as a JSPS fellow. It was one of those moments where the safety nets get ripped right under you. What have I been doing for the last year and half? Well… my research proposal for the fellowship was “Development of new wrought magnesium alloys for automotive applications”. At the moment I attempt at refining the precipitate distributions in magnesium alloys so we could further strengthen these alloys so they are competitive with aluminium alloys in wrought structural applications, such as body panels, structural members etc. The research work is very similar to what I was doing towards the end of my stay at Monash but with more sophisticated characterization tools like 3D atom probes, high resolution electron microcopy and little bit of positron annihilation work. So far, we have developed a precipitation hardenable wrought magnesium alloy that has yield strength of over 300MPa with appreciable ductility. Prof. Hono’s group is a very dynamic group where everyone is very helpful and all work together. This does not apply just to research work and everyone work and sometimes play together and share good times with each other.
Outside of research Japan is a very interesting place to live and to experience from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and serene Kyoto. My spare time is spent trying to learn the Japanese; it is rather difficult language, so I could do understand what is going on. There is fair number of researchers from China, India, United States, Australia and all over Europe working in Tsukuba. So, it is easier to find meet and get to know people especially since all of us were in the same situation of being the new researcher in the block. There is always someone to go have dinner, drink or two or go on short hops around Japan see the culture. The research community is a great melting pot of people from all over the world at times, so we get exposed to many different cultures. Of course there is always the chance that one will meet their future collaborators over a sake or two. There are always visitors from home visiting NIMS, like Dr. Nie or Laure, or other researchers like Julian who comes here for the long haul.
For myself, this is one of the best experiences I’ve had so far both in terms of research life, which keeps me on my toes most of the time, and learning about a different culture and a very different set of rules. I highly recommend it…
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A few words from recent Materials Engineering PhD graduate, Kylie Crompton…
I left Monash only 2 years ago, after studying Materials Science as an undergraduate and then a PhD in the department. My PhD was in Tissue Engineering, working with chitosan, a natural polymer that under certain conditions forms a temperature sensitive hydrogel. Since my project was cross-disciplinary, I spent some time in a number of departments, a number of institutions, even a number of countries, and learnt techniques ranging from neutron scattering to cell culture. I loved the variety of my work, and the chance to meet so many interesting people who each had a different perspective on my project.
I now work at a small company called PolyNovo Biomaterials Ltd
http://www.polynovo.com/
as a research scientist. I am lucky enough to continue in my field of interest (biopolymers), although biodegradable polyurethanes are quite different to chitosan! My current project applies the company’s technology to wound repair, in collaboration with the Royal Adelaide Hospital Skin Engineering Laboratory. I am really enjoying seeing basic research move into development and manufacturing phases, and that our material may really benefit people in years to come.
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Robbie Hobbs
Robbie Hobbs graduated from Monash University in 2001 with a First Class Honours degree in Materials Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Spanish language and linguistics. He received the I. J. Polmear Award for graduating top in Materials Engineering and was the recipient of the Institute of Materials Engineering Australasia Prize, the Austrim Limited Engineering Prize and the Moldflow Engineering Prize for best Honours year project on the forming of composite aerospace components. This work was an extension of his summer vacation placement at the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures. Despite this, his principal field of interest was metallurgy, specifically alloy design for aerospace applications.
Upon graduating, Robbie was awarded a CSIRO Scholar and Honorary Cambridge Australia Packer Scholarship and the Sir Peter Gadsden Britain-Australia Bicentennial Award of the Worshipful Company of Engineers Charitable Trust Fund to read his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2002. His passion for aerospace and alloy development made him an ideal candidate for the University of Cambridge / Rolls-Royce Technology Centre in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. His industrially sponsored project was focused on the development of advanced single crystal nickel-base superalloys for turbine blade applications in the next-generation of Rolls-Royce aeroengines to power ultra-efficient airframes such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and its competitor the Airbus A350 XWB. During this time he was actively involved in internal Rolls-Royce alloy development programmes and, in 2004, was awarded the Rolls-Royce Mark Shipton Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of innovative materials. His work culminated in the development of a model capable of predicting the relative susceptibility of a given alloy composition to single crystal solidification-related casting defects that has since been adopted by Rolls-Royce as a valuable tool integral to the alloy design process.
Robbie was recruited from the University of Cambridge to join Rolls-Royce in 2006 to direct the turbine blade alloy development activity in collaboration with the National Institute of Materials Science, Japan, and the UK network of Rolls-Royce Materials University Technology Centres. His role has recently expanded to encompass the management of Rolls-Royce materials-related university research. In this capacity he is responsible for managing university relations, research budgets, current and future research strategies, EU and UK government research bids and student recruitment.
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Some thoughts on the Double Degree in Science and Engineering by recent graduate Rajkumar Gopiraj
A study in materials is a course offered by one, completed by a few, recognized by many and enjoyed by all. At the completion of the unique double degree in materials science and engineering from Monash University, these are my lasting impressions.
Materials as an undergraduate degree, not only offered great career prospects but also provided me with an opportunity to develop my interests in both science and mathematics, garnered during my high school education at Melbourne High. A double degree in materials engineering and science was the only course that offered the unique combination of adaptable proficiencies but also had a faculty composed of enthusiastic lecturers, who were very supportive, encouraging and extremely accommodating to offer the different challenges and opportunities.
The course also offered me the opportunity to volunteer and become a leader within the materials community. Furthermore, I was able to develop my personal leadership, management and inter-personal skills by being elected as the vice-president of the Materials Engineering society (MATes), which required me to interact with the faculty and corporate sponsors, on behalf of the society. The society has expanded in the last few years, becoming one of the largest student run materials society in Australia, with the influence to initiate changes within the faculty and is recognized as an important link between potential employers, the student body and the university.
Additionally, the faculty made available many opportunities, which included the completion of an industrially-based honors project with ExxonMobil, through to undertaking a scholarship based part-time research project including a fully funded inter-state conference presentation, as an undergraduate.
Professionally, my materials background has allowed me to be employed, in a variety of scientific and engineering roles; including employment as an undergraduate at Basell, Qenos Pty Ltd, through to my current role as a graduate within the Advanced Materials Group at Maunsell Australia, which provides the local focus as part of AECOM; a global provider of professional technical and management support services. My motivation to be a successful applicant at Maunsell was driven by the myriad of opportunities provided by the firm; a flexible, friendly and youthful work environment; being involved in iconic, global projects; and being employed within one of the largest materials advisory groups in Australia. Maunsell has allowed me the freedom and responsibility to work primarily within a project management and business development role, whilst still maintaining my technical expertise by being involved in undertaking condition assessments, designing cathodic protection systems and preparing rehabilitation and cost analysis. The materials double degree and the opportunities provided by the materials faculty has allowed me to develop many intangible skills. Maunsell has afforded me the opportunity to further develop these qualities, by providing the financial support and resources to commence a Masters in Commercial Law at the University of Melbourne, in addition to completing numerous short courses in management, communication, leadership and auditing.
To be successful, you require the opportunity to make choices. Choosing to undertake a double degree in materials engineering and science not only provided me with a multitude of choices but a foundation for success, with no limitations.
Raj
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And a last From the Past with John Calamatta
John Calamatta revisited…
I first came to Monash in September of 1979 as a lab technician under the supervision of Ken Bride, who though very tough as a boss was very fair. He taught me all about the best and most efficient way to prepare the scheduled prac. classes for the undergrad students. There definitely was a method in his madness. The Lab manager at the time was Bruce Young who at anytime and unannounced would barge in to the labs, workshop or Heat treatment room to check on preparations, and whether things were up to scratch. I tended to hit it off quite well with both students mainly because “can’t do” was not part of my vocabulary. I tried to make time for all requests especially the students who might be running late with their projects. During my early years in the department, I was introduced to a variation of the Australian game of Two Up. Quite often I would encounter Ken Bride and then Chairman Ian Polmear bouncing a couple of silver coins off the passage wall to see who can get closest.
On the way I also gained a lot of knowledge within the engineering discipline, such as material behaviour at extreme temperatures and stresses from different applications.
After nine years in the Labs. I was transferred to the Departmental workshop under the supervision of Jim Hobson. Not long after Jim retired, I was promoted to workshop supervisor. This was a very rewarding position involving design and building a wide variety of equipment for undergraduates, as well as for research staff.
I think my two biggest achievements were my introducing the first Computerised Milling Machine within the Monash Engineering Faculty as well as a short, hands-on course, where the students spent some time learning how to operate milling, turning, welding and the use of engineering hand tools. Unfortunately that course went by the wayside after three or four years due to lack of time.
After 22 years at Monash I decided it was time for a change to a different lifestyle Dec. 1999.
The first 12 months of retirement or so involved me taking different courses in, Music, Gym instructor, Personal trainer as well as doing voluntary work in a couple of workshops for disabled people.
For the past seven years I have settled to being a full time musician, playing saxophone with various Jazz/ Funk/Latin Bands as well as repairing woodwind instruments for which I trained at the Selmer company in Paris.
From time to time I still pop into Monash to say hello to some of my old acquaintances still there.
John