Biography

Since appointmet at the University of Newcastle as the Delta EMD Lecturer in Applied Chemistry (November 2001), I have I believe been quite a productive researcher, able to attain significant external funding, and supervising the activities of many Honours and postgraduate students, the results from which have led to the publication of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. Despite being a relatively young academic, this is a substantial achievement.

My appointment just prior to the University of Newcastle was as a Staff Technology Engineer for the largest global battery company, Eveready Battery Company. This period of my research career was also quite productive (over 40 internal reports and a number of patent applications); however, due to commercial constraints this information is not available in the public domain. If it were, I am confident that my track record of publications would be considerably more extensive than what it is a present.

Qualifications

• PhD (Chemistry), University of Newcastle, 1996
• Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Newcastle, 1992
• Bachelor of Science, University of Newcastle, 1991

Research

Research keywords

• Electrochemistry
• Energy storage materials
• Industrial chemistry
• Solid state chemistry

Research expertise

My main research interests lie in the general area of electrochemistry, particularly on energy storage materials such as batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells. In this area we expend considerable effort preparing new materials, and then evaluating their behaviour and performance under a variety of conditions. While this represents research in only a relatively focussed part of electrochemistry, I do also have significant experience in electrodeposition, the application of various electroanalytical methods, as well as in the study of corrosion. At present I also have a number of ongoing projects dealing with industrial chemistry.

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER)
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Energy
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Organic Electronics

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - American Chemical Society
• Local Section President - Royal Australian Chemical Institute
• Member - Royal Australian Chemical Institute
• Member - The Electrochemical Society

Appointments

Invitations

Administrative

Administrative expertise

At present I function in a number of administrative roles across the campus, ranging from the Discipline to University-wide levels. At the Disipline level I have been involved with both individual subject and overall year coordination. Presently I am the Level 1000 coordinator in Chemistry, which is a demanding role. In the recent past I've been the Chemistry representative on the School Honours committee. Beyond this I've served on a number of Unviersity-wide committees, including the OSPRO committee and the recently formed advisory group overseeing the operation of the University's X-ray and electron microscopy facilities.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Electroanalytical chemistry
• Electrochemistry
• General chemistry
• Thermodynamics

Teaching expertise

As with research, my main teaching areas revolve primarily around different aspects of electrochemistry, including electroanalytical methods, the thermodynamics and kinetics of electrochemical reactions, corrosion, and electrochemical solar energy conversion. Related to this are a number of support subjects such as general chemistry, thermodynamics and other aspects of analytical chemistry.