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Dr Yahia Ali

Affiliate of Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM)
Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Advance Qld Industry Research Fellow
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision

Dr. Yahia Ali serves as a research fellow and lecturer within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland, Australia. His primary research focus centers on applying scientific principles to address industrial challenges. He earned his PhD from the University of Queensland, while his MSc and BSc were obtained from the German University in Cairo. Throughout his career, he has amassed extensive expertise in areas such as alloy design, solidification, tribology of materials, and characterization techniques.

In conjunction with his academic responsibilities, Dr. Ali collaborates closely with the UQ Materials Performance (UQMP) consulting group. This interdisciplinary interaction between research and consulting significantly shapes his research direction, particularly in tackling industrial issues. As an illustration, Dr. Ali and his team have developed a distinctive range of devices for evaluating the performance of wear-resistant materials against abrasion and fracture. In Australia, Dr. Ali and his team holds a pivotal role in advancing the mining sector, providing innovative materials solutions, spanning from failure investigation to the development of novel materials. Through consecutive endeavors, they have influenced substantial business decisions for renowned companies like Rio-Tinto, Bradken, Molycop, IXL Metal Casting, Trelleborg, and others, often involving multi-million-dollar investments.

In 2023, Dr. Ali was honored as an Advance Queensland Industry Fellow, with a specific focus on developing sustainable alloys tailored for Queensland's agricultural and mining sectors. Additionally, he leads several projects concentrated on devising new testing techniques that can be conducted in the laboratory while preserving the authentic complexity of the industrial field environment.

Yahia Ali
Yahia Ali

Dr Shazed Aziz

Research Fellow
School of Chemical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision

Experienced materials engineering researcher with proven experience in developing chemically tuned structures for commercial opportunities. My unique skill set spans interfacing technical analysis (morphology, composition, performance, and durability) of sustainable composite materials with economic feasibility and quality system requirements from research and industry associates. I am a team player, and the guiding principles by which I function in all facets of my life include ‘shared values’, ‘shared vision’, ‘complementary expertise’ and ‘diligence’.

Shazed Aziz
Shazed Aziz

Dr Mitch Dunn

Affiliate of Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM)
Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Research Fellow
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Mitch Dunn is a Research Fellow within the UQ Composites group, in the school of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. He has interest in a wide range of material research activities, including functional composite materials, non-destructive evaluation, novel material systems, high-temperature applications, instrumentation, and novel RF/antenna applications in Defence.

Mitch received his PhD from UQ in 2018 for his work on the detection of laminar damage in composite laminates using nonlinear ultrasonic techniques. Recently, he has worked extensively on industry technology development and innovation projects focused around functional composite materials and conformal, load-bearing antenna structures.

Mitch Dunn
Mitch Dunn

Dr David Gildfind

Affiliate of Centre for Hypersonics
Centre for Hypersonics
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Senior Lecturer
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

David Gildfind’s research is primarily concerned with experimental hypersonics. His research interests include: expansion tube facility development; scramjet propulsion; planetary entry aerothermodynamics; and magnetohydrodynamic aerobraking.

David graduated as an aerospace engineer from RMIT University in 2001. He worked in industry on various aircraft platforms in Australia and overseas (GKN in Melbourne 2002-2003 on A340/A380; Australian Aerospace in Brisbane 2003-2005 on DHC4 Caribou; and Stork Fokker in The Netherlands 2005-2007 on F35-JSF and Gulfstream G6), and retains a strong interest in aircraft structures. He later completed his PhD and post-doctoral work in hypersonics at the University of Queensland (UQ), where he developed the capability for expansion tubes wind tunnels to simulate reallistic scramjet flight trajectories beyond Mach 10. His research in this area includes optimising free-piston driver operation, expansion tube flow condition development, and test flow characterisation.

David became a lecturer at UQ's School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering in 2014, and teaches into aircraft structures, design, and hypersonics. During this time David has initiated a new research program on Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) aerobraking, which was awarded an ARC DECRA fellowship (2017-2020) to experimentally evaluate MHD aerobraking technology for a human mission to Mars. This work is now continuing in 2022 with the recently awarded three year ARC Discovery Project "Magnetohydrodynamic Aerobraking for Spacecraft Entry to Earth's Atmosphere" which David is leading. This will focus on the development of new MHD aerobraking technology to reduce spacecraft heating, leading to safer, more efficient, and potentially reusable spacecraft

David Gildfind
David Gildfind

David Howard

Adjunct Associate Professor
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Not available for supervision
David Howard

Dr Chris James

Affiliate of Centre for Hypersonics
Centre for Hypersonics
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
UQ Amplify Senior Lecturer
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Chris James' research is in the fields of experimental hypersonics, hypersonic aerothermodynamics, and planetary entry. His research combines two important and intertwined parts of these fields: the development and understanding of hypersonic test facilities and the performing and analysing of experiments in them. Chris' 28 journal papers, 2 technical notes, and 59 conference publications cover the design, improvement, and simulation of high enthalpy hypersonic facilities such as expansion tubes and shock tunnels, the application and improvement of physical, optical, and radio-based techniques performed on these facilities, non-equilibrium radiation measurements for entry into many planets in the solar system, re-entry observation measurements, and impulse facility ablation testing.

Chris graduated from Mechanical Engineering at UQ in 2012. Following this, he completed his PhD in the Centre for Hypersonics at the University of Queensland (UQ).

During his PhD he developed very high speed Uranus and Saturn entry conditions which were used to perform the fastest experiments which have ever been performed in an expansion tube, as well as developing expansion tube simulation and analysis codes which are now widely used in the Centre for Hypersonics and around the world. He also enrolled in a cotutelle program with École Centrale Paris in Paris, France, and after being awarded an Eiffel Excellence Scholarship by the French government, he passed a year on exchange in Paris, France. In France, Chris was working on developing the capability to perform radiating simulations to support his experimental work at UQ.

Post PhD he was employed in the Centre for Hypersonics helping to develop the X3R reflected shock tunnel, while also supervising and conducting expansion tube research on the X2 expansion tube at UQ.

In 2020, Chris took on a lecturing position for the year and was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA early career fellowship to study Mars return conditions with heated test models at UQ from 2021 to 2023. He was the 2020 recipient of the UQ EAIT Faculty Early Career Researcher Award and in 2021 a paper he presented was awarded the 2021 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Ground Test Best Paper Award at the 2021 AIAA SciTech Forum.

in 2020 he participated in the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) led re-entry observation mission of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2 re-entry over Woomera, South Australia and in 2022 he led the UQ contingent on the once again UniSQ led re-entry observation mission of the NASA OSIRIS-REx re-entry in the US.

He is now employed at UQ as a UQ Amplify Senior Lecturer where he continues to perform research in giant planet entry through an ARC Discovery Project which he received with his colleague Professor Richard Morgan and continues to develop and improve UQ's X2 expansion tube.

Chris lectures in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at UQ. He lectures both hypersonics and space engineering, covering varied topics such as high temperature gas dynamics, hypersonic test facilities, rarefied gas dynamics, orbital mechanics, rocket trajectories, spacecraft design, spacecraft thermal and power management, and planetary entry.

He has written six popular science article for The Conversation with a more than 200,000 combined reads, and has been interviewed for Youtube and radio many times. He has given invited talks at the University of Oxford and the Engineers Australia Continuing Professional Development seminar series.

Chris James
Chris James

Emeritus Professor David Mee

Emeritus Professor
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

Prof David Mee's research interests are in Hypersonic and Supersonic Flow.

After completing his PhD at UQ, he spent five years as a Research Fellow in the turbomachinery research group at Oxford University in the U.K. He returned to UQ as an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow in 1991 and joined the academic staff of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1993. He served as Head of the Division of Mechanical Engineering from 2007 to 2017, acting Head of the School of Engineering from January to July 2009 and Head of the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering from July 2009 to February 2017. He retired in 2020 and is currently an Emeritus Professor in the School.

David's main areas of research are focussed in the field of hypersonics aerothermodynamics. He has undertaken much research on rapid response, stress-wave force balances, which are essential technology for categorising the performance of scramjet engines in transient facilities, such as shock tubes. He was a member of the team that conducted the first known wind-tunnel test in which a scramjet vehicle produced net thrust. He has also published on the transient processes in the latter stages of boundary layer transition in hypersonic flows.

David Mee
David Mee

Associate Professor Chris Roelfsema

Affiliate of Centre for Marine Science
Centre for Marine Science
Faculty of Science
Affiliate of Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Faculty of Science
Associate Professor
School of the Environment
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Research interest: Monitoring ecosystem health of coral reefs and seagrass habitats, integrating field and remote sensing image datasets, and the developing applied cost-effective mapping and monitoring approaches. Developed approaches have been adopted as standard practice globally, making a difference in conservation of these valuable habitats. The long term monitoring studies at Heron and Moreton Bay formed the basis for the development of mapping and monitoring over time and space at local to global scale. See here major research impact

Major projects:

  • Long term monitoring of benthic composition at Heron Reef (2002-ongoing).
  • Long term monitoring of seagrass composition and abundance in Moreton bay Marine Park (2000-ongoing).
  • Smart Sat CRC Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Seagrass and Coral Reefs 2023-2027.
  • Developement of Underwater Field Spectrometry and Benthic Photo Collection and Analysis
  • 3D GBR Habitat Mapping Project 2015 - ongoing:
  • Global habitat mapping project 2019-2023 Allen Coral Atlas .

Current position: Associate Professior in Marine Remote Sensing leading the Marine Ecosystem Monitoring Lab. . Academic Director Heron Island Research Station and affiliated researchers with Centre for Marine Science and Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science

Capacity Building and Citizen Science: Capacity: under/post graduate courses; Msc/PhD supervision, workshops/courses; Remote Sensing Educational Toolkit, and online courses (e.g. TNC).Strong supporter of citizen science based projects, as trainer, organiser and advisor for Reef Check Australia, CoralWatch, Great Reef Census and UniDive.

Chris Roelfsema
Chris Roelfsema

Dr Luigi Vandi

Affiliate of ARC Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites
ARC Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Affiliate of Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM)
Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Senior Lecturer
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Luigi Vandi is the Co-Deputy Director for the Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. He conducts research in materials science, ranging from advanced manufacturing, in-life performance and end-of life conversion to higher value products. He obtained his PhD on hybrid materials from The University of Queensland, and his MSc from the National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine in France.

His translational research activities have a strong focus on industry relevant projects. His experience in high-performance composites manufacturing for automotive and aerospace applications, includes working at Ferrari F1 Team in Italy, where he was responsible for the manufacture of carbon fibre suspensions and gearbox of the F1 car. In Australia, he played a key role in developing a patented technology as part of a collaborative project with Airbus and CRC-ACS. He is currently responsible for AMPAM’s sustainability theme and leads research in ‘Biocomposites & Circular Economy’. He has secured over $9 million of funding in this field and delivered high impact sustainable solutions. He is the first author of 4 active patents, in the fields of advanced manufacturing, biocomposites and biopolymers, including the development of novel sustainable biocomposite materials that are marine biodegradable biopolymer.

Luigi is driven by solution-based research, and in particular bringing latest innovations in materials science to the benefits of a future circular economy. His goal is to provide an expertise at the crossover between materials science and sustainable development to address the challenges of today’s linear economy.

Luigi lectured 4th year Aerospace Composites (course AERO4300), and 2nd year Engineering Investigation & Statistical Analysis (course CHEE2010)

Luigi Vandi
Luigi Vandi

Dr Tristan Vanyai

Affiliate of Centre for Hypersonics
Centre for Hypersonics
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Lecturer
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Dr Tristan Vanyai's research interests are in the fields of hypersonic propulsion, aerodynamics, combustion visualisation and laser diagnostics, using both experimental and numerical techniques.

Dr Vanyai received his Doctor of Philosophy from The University of Queensland in 2018, after completing a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Science double degree at Monash University in 2012.

His research focuses on fundamentals of hypersonic propulsion through the scramjet cycle. Robust combustion within low intake compression scramjets is a key technology enabler for hypersonic accelerator vehicles, and can be achieved through utilising techniques such as thermal compression. Dr Vanyai is examining the improvements to scramjet combustion due to thermal compression through experiments in the T4 Stalker Tube facility using advanced optical techniques and comparison with results from numerical simulations.

Tristan Vanyai
Tristan Vanyai

Professor Anand Veeraragavan

Centre Director of Centre for Hypersonics
Centre for Hypersonics
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Professor
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Prof. Anand Veeraragavan's research interests are in supersonic combustion of hydrocarbons, hypersonic aerothermodynamics, advanced optical diagnostics for hypersonic flows and microcombustion based portable power. He is the Co-Director for UQ's Centre for Hypersonics. Since 2021, he is an Associate Editor for the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, which is a Quartile 1 Journal in Aerospace Engineering (Scimago).

Prof. Anand Veeraragavan joined the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering as a mechanical engineering lecturer in 2012. He was an Mid-Career Advance Queensland Research Fellow (2017-2020) awarded for conducting research in the project entitled

Supersonic Combustion of Hydrocarbon Fuels for High-Mach-Number Axisymmetric Scramjets

Anand graduated with a B.Tech in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) in 2002. He obtained his MS (2006) and PhD (2009) degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. His Doctoral research, which focused on understanding flame stabilization in microscale combustors, won the best thesis award in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland.

After his PhD, he took up a research appointment as a postdoctoral research associate in the Device Research Lab at MIT where he worked on thermophotovoltaics and nanofluid based volumetric solar absorbers. He next joined GE Energy as a combustion technologist in the US. At GE, he worked primarily on designing the next generation, land based, heavy duty, gas turbine engine combustors focusing on cost, operability, reliability and emissions and also completed his lean Six Sigma Greenbelt certification at GE.

He is currently undertaking world-leading research in the field of hypersonics and supersonic combustion sponsored by Australian DST, U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and U.S. Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD). This includes leading the Australian effort in prestigious projects such as ground testing and simulations in support of the Boundary Layer Transition/Turbulence (BOLT II) flight test sponsored by the AFOSR.

His research interests include:

  • Supersonic combustion of hydrocarbon fuels
  • Hypersonic aerothermodynamics
  • Optical diagnostics: PLIF for supersonic combustion, FLDI for hypersonic aerothermodynamics, high-speed schlieren
  • Micro-combustion driven power systems
  • Solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technology development
Anand Veeraragavan
Anand Veeraragavan