New Associate Investigators 2019 - Annual Report 2019

28 May, 2020

Dr Ebubekir (Ebu) Avci

Dr Ebubekir (Ebu) Avci is a Lecturer in Mechatronics in the School of Food and Advanced Technology at Massey University.

His research interests include nano-scale robots for molecule analysis, micro-scale robots for cell manipulation, and millimeter-scale robots for GI Tract analysis. In addition, he is interested in micro- nano manufacturing to develop novel smart mechanisms.

Dr Marcus Jones

Dr Marcus Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at the Auckland University of Technology.

He is interested in the ways that nanoparticles interact with light: how they absorb light, emit light, and convert its energy into different forms. He aims to develop new ways to harvest photons for solar energy and enhance fluorescence for displays and biosensing applications.

Associate Professor Peng Cao

Associate Professor Peng Cao teaches in the school of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland.

His research is primarily focused on developing novel materialsfor energy-storage and light- while-strong materials for sustainability. Funded by Science for Technological Innovation (SfTI), Dr Cao’s team is developing, for lithium-ion battery applications, self-healing silicon-based anode materials, which have shown significant improvement in energy capacity.

Dr Vedran Jovic

Dr Vedran Jovic is a Research Development Scientist in Energy Conversion Systems at GNS Science.

His current work involves the development of materials and processes for electrocatalytic H2 production and for conversion of carbon emissions to higher value chemicals. Much of his work involves fundamental synchrotron studies of the materials electronic band structure.

Dr Jack Chen

Dr Jack Chen is a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at the Auckland University of Technology.

His research group is interested in the way nanoparticles and molecules self-organise into functional architectures. He is also leading a project into sustainable chemistry in water catalysed by multi- functional gold nanoparticles.

Dr Nathaniel (Nate) Davis

Dr Nathaniel (Nate) Davis is a Lecturer in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington and AI of the Dodd Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies.

He works on the synthesis of different nanomaterials (organic/inorganic) for optoelectronic applications such as photovoltaics, light emitting diodes and luminescence solar concentrators.

Dr Eva Anton

Dr Eva Anton is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington.

Her research is on magnetic materials and memory devices for superconducting computers. Dr Anton’s research aims to develop computer memories that operate at the ultra-low temperatures required by more energy efficient, fast superconducting computers to pave the way for a sustainable growth of our digital resources.

Dr Krista Steenbergen

Dr Krista Steenbergen is a Physics Lecturer in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington.

Her research is focused on using and developing computational methods to characterise material properties. She is particularly interested in how materials properties change at the nanoscale. Dr Steenbergen’s long-term research is focused on discovery and characterisation of materials with application to renewable energy, battery and sensing technologies.