Auckland

University of Auckland

Almost 200 SCS students (including 23 PhD graduands) crossed the stage to graduate in Auckland University's May graduation ceremony
University of Auckland

‍Events

University of Auckland Graduation ceremony

Almost 200 SCS students (including 23 PhD graduands) crossed the stage to graduate in the May graduation ceremony.

Professor John Hosking, Dean of Science, addressed the ceremony attendees:

“Many thanks to all of you who took part in either or both ceremonies, whether organising, celebrating, or (especially) if you were indeed graduating. Graduations are major life events. Seeing them run smoothly is a credit to all concerned, and seeing the joy on the faces of graduates and their whānau is a nice vicarious pleasure moment.

"This cohort of bachelors graduates came to us in 2020 just before lockdowns, alert levels, and traffic lights all had their part to play in making their university experience less than ideal. To see so many of them pass across the stage is a testament to their tenacity and to the extra mile many of you went to ensure they had an educational experience that has set them up well for life. Many thanks for what you have all done for this group of new alumni in particular.”

SCS hosted a graduation celebration lunch on the day, where graduands, their whānau, family and friends and the School’s staff gathered and celebrated the graduands’ success.

SCS graduation

SCS Seminar Series

The School of Chemical Sciences held the following seminars:

  • Associate Professor Michael Hay (Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre): “Discovery of imidazo [4,5-c]pyridine-2-ones as inhibitors of DNA repair and their development as radio sensitisers”.
  • Professor David Lupton (Monash University, Australia): “New radical and polar reactions by Lewis base catalysis with conjugate acceptors”.
  • Professor Marian Chatenet (Institute of Engineering and Management, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France): “Efficient oxygen evolution on stainless steel electrodes”.
  • Sara Beikzadeh (PhD candidate, University of Auckland): “Low-voltage electrochemical disinfection systems using different conductive and capacitive materials”.
  • Dr Nelson Lam (University of Cambridge): “New strategies for selective C-H bond activation and functionalisation".
  • Professor Scott McIndoe (University of Victoria, Canada): “A piece of CAKE”.
  • Dr Sandra Pluczyk-Malek (Silesian University of Technology, Poland): “Electrochemical and spectrochemical analysis of organic electroactive materials for optoelectronic applications”.
  • Professor Robert Britton (Simon Fraser University, Canada): “Exploiting alpha-halo aldehydesin complex molecule synthesis”.
  • Professor Gang Sun (University of California, Davis): “Photo-active vitamins as biocidal agents for improved personal protections”.

‍Staff successes

Professor Paul Kilmartin was announced as a new Royal Society Te Apārangi Fellow. As the Society states, being elected as a Fellow recognises distinction in research, scholarship or the advancement of knowledge at the highest international standards. Paul is an electrochemist by training who has applied electrochemical methods to fields as diverse as wine science and electrically conducting polymers.

His novel findings in oenology have assisted New Zealand companies to produce high quality sauvignon blanc wines and gained him an international reputation within the wine science community. These include findings that mechanical harvesting, juice oxidation and additives such as sulfites at harvest play essential roles in the formation of the fruity and tropical aromas in New Zealand wines.

His research on conducting polymers has resulted in new applications like sensing elements for the determination of antioxidants in beverages and biological fluids.

A further novel concept has been the consideration of conducting polymers as solid antioxidant materials, and the creation of functional biopolymers from grape marc waste, for use as food packaging materials to increase product shelf life.

Professor Paul Kilmartin

Professional Teaching Fellow Marie-Anne Thelen won the outstanding teacher award at the AEMG conference in Adelaide in February 2023 for her work with the China Learning Centres.

Student successes

PhD candidate Devon Bryant was awarded a poster prize at the POLY-CHAR 2023 conference held in Auckland for his poster entitled, “An electrochemical sensor for the detection of biothiols”.

Chris Bainbridge won the POLY-CHAR Award for the best oral presentations from students and young scientists for his oral presentation entitled “RAFT-based networks as a 4D polymer platform”.

Patrick Imrie won the IUPAC Prize at POLY-CHAR 2023 for the best poster presentation, including a one-year free membership of the IUPAC, for his poster entitled, “Direct-ink-write 3D printing of living polymer hydrogels via type I photoinitiated RAFT polymerization”.

Dr Danny McDougall won the POLY-CHAR 2023 award for the best poster presentation from students and young scientists, sponsored by The University of Auckland, for his poster entitled, “What makes mussels stick?”

Some of the award winners at the POLY-CHAR2023 Conference

 

PhD defences

Vicky Juan (Leung group) successfully defended her PhD thesis, which involved a range of structural and biochemical techniques including NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, to characterise a putative sulfatase enzyme (Rv3406) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The highlight of her PhD included two brand new Rv3406 structures (one in the presence of its substrate analogue, and the other with a potent inhibitor).

Yusong Dong successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled, “Metal oxide and nitride inverse opals and their photocatalytic applications”.

Marzieh Ahangarapour, supervised by Dr. Iman Kavianinia, sucessfully defended her PhD thesis entitled, “Chemical site-selective modification of peptides and proteins and their applications in drug discovery”.

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