Participating Members

Professor John JJ Chen  BE, PhD, FRSNZ, FIChemE

John JJ Chen is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland. After obtaining his BE degree from the University of Auckland, he worked for three years as a Potrooms Development Engineering at New Zealand Aluminium Smelters. He then returned to Auckland and completed a PhD in 1979. He has published over 170 papers in international journals and conference proceedings, one patent and over 60 proprietary research reports. He is on the Light Metals Division and the Aluminium Committee of TMS. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Institution of Chemical Engineers(London), and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

He has received Merit Awards and Best Teachers Awards in the School of Engineering, and awards for best paper from TMS and IPENZ.

Professor Chen's research interests include the modelling of the aluminium smelting process, the treatment of molten metal, and process control in the potrooms. He has been for many years at the forefront of multiphase flows and related transport processes. Professor Chen's research team was the first to quantify the impact of bubble driven flows on current efficiency in aluminium smelting cells and the first to identify and measure the increase in sidewall heat transfer coefficient opposite the bath/metal interface due to the waves in the metal layer impinging on the wall.

Professor Wei Gao  BE, (Northeastern Univ), ME, (BCRI), D.Phil. (Oxford), Fellow of Royal Society NZ, Fellow of Institu

Professor Wei Gao is currently hodling the position of Associate Dean International, School of Engineering Coordinator, and Associate Director of  China Studies Centre, The University of Auckland. 

He has received several international awards such as R J Scott Medal, Royal Society of New Zealand (2001).  James Cook Research Award, Royal Society of NZ (2006). Hsun Lee Lecture Award, IMR, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2006).  Previsouly, he was the Visiting Professor, Hong Kong University (2002). Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore (1998). Principal Research Investigator, Director of Rapid Solidification Laboratory, Research Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. (1988-1992). Research Fellow (SERC/UK), Royal Society (UK) Visiting Fellow, Department of Metallurgy and Science of Materials, Oxford University, U.K., (1985-1988). University Lecturer, Department of Metallic Materials, Chengdu University of Science and Technology, China, (1982-1985). Metallurgical Engineer and Technical Director of Electric Arc Furnace and Casting Workshop, Chengdu Steel, China, (1971-1978).

His current research activities including Nano-Structured Materials and Coatings, High Temperature Oxidation and Corrosion, Electronic Materials and High Temperature Superconductors.  He has 10 US and International Patents, 3 MIT disclosures, 5 books and 410 refereed publications (220 refereed papers in international journals), 32 Keynote/Invited Talks in International Conferences. 30 Invited Lectures in overseas universities.

Dr. Bryony James  

Dr James completed her PhD at the University of Auckland in 1997 having conducted research into the degradation of cathode carbons for aluminium smelting cells.  She received the Carbon Technology Award at TMS in 2001 for work conducted jointly with Professor Welch and Dr Hyland on cathode degradation. 

Her research expertise lies in materials characterisation, in terms of structure and composition, at both the surface and bulk level.  She has published 6 refereed journal articles and 13 papers in refereed conference proceedings in addition to 12 other publications and over 200 technical reports.

She is currently the Director of the Research Centre for Surface and Materials Science, RCSMS.  RCSMS is a cross-faculty research centre offering materials characterisation instrumentation and expertise, including state-of-the-art facilities for X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy.  Users of the RCSMS facilities come from various departments throughout the University of Auckland, predominantly from the Faculties of Science and Engineering, and from other Universities around NZ and the rest of the world.  In addition to this  RCSMS operates commercially, consulting with over 40 companies each year. 

Dr Mark I Jones B.Eng (Hons) PhD  

Graduated PhD  from Nottingham University, UK in 1999 after carrying out research in to the characterisation and biocompatibility of multilayer coatings for artificial heart valve applications.

1999-2001 Awarded a Japanese government Science & Technology Agency (STA)  fellowship and spent 2 years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya (NIRIN) studying alternative processing routes for engineering ceramic materials.  Research involved the investigation of microwave radiation for the densification and sintering of silicon nitride ceramics.

2001-2004 worked as a research fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology, (AIST) Japan's largest national research institute.  Worked as a member of the Tribological Materials Group of a national project called Synergy Ceramics, a 10 year collaboration between research institutes, universities and industry to investigate the control of microstructure in ceramic materials leading to improved and novel materials. 

Joined Univeristy of Auckland as a lecturer in C&M Engineering 2005.  Teaching interests include, non-metallic materials, particulate technology, materials processing.  Research interests include processing, microstructure and properties of engineering ceramics and refractories. Tribology of materials. Wear and high temperature properties of ceramic materials.  Author or co-author of around 50 publications (journal and conference) in the past 5 years.