Research Faculty

Chris Baddeley
Professor, School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews (UK)
Research Interest: Use of STM, TPD and HREELS in ultrahigh vacuum to characterise the packing, orientation and thermal stability of functionalized metal surfaces for applications in corrosion inhibition and enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis.

Annie Levasseur
Professor, Département of Construction Engineering, École de technologie supérieure
Research Interest: Environmental life cycle assessment methodology, Indicators for climate change impact assessment, Time aspects of climate change impacts , Time aspects in life cycle assessment, Environmental and techno-economic system modelling (energy, materials, etc.), Climate change mitigation potential of the forest sector, Environmental impacts associated with carbon capture and storage (negative emission technologies), Environmental design in engineering, Accounting for sustainable development in engineering projects, and Environmental engineering.

Steve Holdcroft
Professor, Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University
Research Interest: Electroactive organic materials and polymer films, bridging polymer synthesis, materials science, organic electronics, and electrochemistry. To understand how the structure and morphology of polymers and organic materials affects electrical, electrochemical, and optical properties to synthesize and study new materials onto which specific properties are conferred.

Alastair McLean
Professor, Department of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy, Queen’s University
Research Interest:
Applying modern scanning probe-based experimental techniques to study nanostructures, low-dimensional materials and self-assembly at the atomic length scale. Techniques include scanning tunneling microscopy, non-contact atomic force microscopy, and optical techniques that utilize the plasmonic enhancement of optical processes in the tip-surface nano-cavity.

David Heldebrant
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
Research Interest: Applying the principles of Green Chemistry to improve atom and energy efficiency and reduce toxicity of chemical processes and to make energy-related process more environmentally benign, with a focus on developing materials that can perform multiple tasks to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency in the fields of chemical separations and chemical conversions, applying these principles in areas of industrial gas separations, liquid/liquid separations and catalysis. Development of organic gas-separating liquids that can chemically remove CO2, SOx, and H2S from combustion, gasification or natural gas streams through applied and fundamental studies of gas absorption kinetics, thermodynamics and mechanistic studies.

James Noël
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Western University
Research Interest: To solve problems that straddle the boundaries of chemistry, physics, earth sciences, metallurgy, and materials science, especially those related to materials electrochemistry and corrosion/degradation, and safety and longevity of metallic containers for the permanent disposal of nuclear fuel waste by use of high-resolution surface analyses and precise measurements of fundamental physical chemical quantities by electrochemical and other appropriate means, and detailed data analysis, fitting, and computer modeling.

Hannu Häkkinen
Professor, School of Chemistry, Departments of Physics and Chemistry, Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä
Research Interest: Investigating physical and chemical properties of various nanosystems using computational techniques based on density functional theory, dynamical simulations and artificial intelligence. To understand physical, chemical, catalytic and bio-compatible properties of atomically precise, ligand-protected metal nanoclusters and their self-assemblies.

Tatsuya Tsukuda
Professor, School of Chemistry, School of Science, University of Tokyo
Research Interest: Atomically-precise synthesis and characterization of metal clusters protected by ligands and their catalytic applications.

Kevin Stamplecoskie
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Queen’s University
Research Interest: To discover new photonics materials with electronic and optical properties tuned for state-of-the-art devices. Synthesis and spectroscopy of metal clusters and larger nanomaterial with tailored properties for advanced chemical sensing, light-harvesting, biomedical imaging and fundamental studies of emerging materials.

Jie Zheng
Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Dallas
Research Interest: Fundamental understanding of nano-bio interactions in vitro and in vivo and further applying these understandings to advance disease diagnosis and therapy.

Brian Wilson
Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
Research Interest: Developing novel technologies and methods that can be translated to cancer patients that are based on light and nanoparticles, such as cancer detection/diagnosis and image-guided cancer interventions. Use of nanoparticles to deliver light-activatable materials to the tumor.

Marianne Koritzinsky
Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
Research Interest: Investigating the tumor microenvironment with a primary interest in understanding the cellular and molecular responses to deficiencies in oxygenation (hypoxia) and their influence on the biological behavior of tumors.

Mikko Karttunen
Professor, Department of Chemistry, Western University
Research Interest: Studying properties of biological and soft matter computational chemistry and physics, at the interface between materials science, biology & biomedical sciences. Interested in studying lipid diffusion, sterols, bacterial toxins, membrane proteins, antibiotics, translocation of DNA, peptides and sugars, and working on magnetic materials, pattern formation and non-equilibrium dynamics.

Arghya Paul
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Western University
Research Interest: Developing new class of bioctive materials, nano drug delivery vehicles and hybrid tissue regeneration matrices primarily for orthoregeneration and cardiovascular research. To innovate at the biomolecular and cellular level to develop new biomedical technologies for angiogenesis, immune-modulation and regeneration therapy; to exploit the stem cell-material interactions and mechanistic pathways; and to discover therapeutic strategies which can be translated to point-of-care patient applications

Heng Yong Nie
Adjunct Research Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western University
Research Interest: Exploring formation mechanisms of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organophosphonic acids and organosilanes on oxides and their applications in surface engineering. Developing time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) approaches to investigating surface/interface chemistry of organic materials. Developing atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques for imaging additives in a polymer matrix.

Lijiu Liu
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Western University
Research Interest: Materials synthesis and characterization of lead halide perovskites, persistent luminescent particles, and inorganic coatings for bioimplants. Electronic structure analysis using laboratory- and synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopy techniques, including X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL).

Sean Barry
Sean Barry, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Carleton University
Research Interest: Development of precursors and processes for atomic layer deposition (ALD); The first academic research group in Canada to work in this field. Determining the mechanism of the surface chemistry and thermal decomposition routes to better design precursors and tune the processes.

Joe Gilroy
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Western University
Research Interest: Design and synthesis of inorganic and polymeric materials with interesting optoelectronic, conducting, magnetic, and redox properties, with natural resource sustainability and alternative energy technologies in mind. Fluorescent and electro-chemiluminescent dyes containing main group elements for use in medical imaging, organic electronics, and sensing platforms. Pi-conjugated polymers incorporating inorganic elements for use in advanced sensing technologies and for charge transport/storage applications. Stable radical polymers for use as charge transport/storage materials in organic electronics.

Vera Tai
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Western University
Research Interest: The diversity, evolution, and biogeography of microorganisms and elucidating their ecological roles in support of complex ecosystems or animal health. In addition to field work, I specialize in using molecular, genomics, and bioinformatics methods to investigate microbiomes from soil and aquatic environments.

Mark Biesinger
Adjunct Research Professor, Department of Chemistry, Western University
Research Interest:
XPS methodology and applications development – various areas
ToF-SIMS / Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
Other surface analysis related applications