Professor Steve Eich
horn
Steve Eichhorn graduated in Physics from the University of Leeds in 1993 and subsequently completed a Masters degree in Paper and Forestery Industries Technology at Bangor and UMIST in 1994/5. He then went on to do a PhD degree, graduating in 1999 on the subject of the "Deformation Micromechanics of Regenerated Cellulose Fibres". His academic appointments have been as a temporary Lecturer in the Department of Paper Science (then seperate from the School of Materials) in 1997-8 and as a Visiting Research Scientist from 1998-1999. After this period he went to work under the supervision of Professor Bob Young as a postdoctoral research associate (1999-2002) and was appointed as a Lecturer in the Materials Science Centre in 2002. His research interests are the interface between natural and biomaterials research with particular emphasis on cellulosic materials and composites. He has research projects that also investigate the structure property relationships of seashells and fingernails. In terms of techniques, Professor Eichhorn has particular expertise in the use of Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron x-ray diffraction and molecular dynamics/mechanics modelling of polymeric materials. He is a member of the ACS Cellulose and Renewable Materials division, the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Research Associates
Fenglei Zhou
Fenglei studied Textiles at Qingdao University from 1999 to 2006. He obtianed his BSc and MSc degrees in July 2003 and July 2006, respectively, and then started his PhD research on eletrospinning and electrospun nanofibres for textiles, funded by ORS under the supervision of Dr Hugh Gong and Prof Isaac Porat, in the Textiles & Paper, School of Materials at the University of Manchester in September 2006. He received his PhD in Textiles in December 2009. From February 2010 he held a two-year research associate with Prof Geoff Parker and Dr Penny Hubbard in ISBE at School of Medicine, and Dr Eichhorn in the School of Materials, the University of Manchester. He has general research interests are textiles and polymeric nanofibres by electrospinning, with special interests in scaling-up of electrospinning and coating of electrospun nanofibres on textiles.
Research students
Felicity Trubshaw
Franck Quero
He is from the north west of France, from a city called Lorient. He graduated in applied physics from the University of Nantes (France) and in Eco-design in polymers and composites from the University of South Brittany (France). As a master student he has been involved in the characterisation of polyamide 6/sepiolite nanocomposites (Queen Mary, University of London) and the optimisation of the performances of high performance differentail scaning calorimetry or HPer DSC (DSM Resolve, the Netherlands). Now his research is oriented in the use of Raman spectroscopy to investigate the micromechanical properties of bacterial cellulose/poly(L-lactic) acid composites.
Supachok Tanpichai
Supachok Tanpichai graduated in Polymer Science from the department of Materials Science, Chulalorngkorn University, Thailand, and then finished a Master Degree at the same department in 2006 on the subject of "Preparation of Polymer Blend Powder between Polypropylene and PET from Consumed-bottles by Pulverisation Technique". After that, he has been awarded a scholarship from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand, to pursue a PhD degree at the University of Manchester, School of Materials, and has been supervised by Dr S. Eichhorn. His research focuses on nano and micro fibrillated cellulose composites.
Tanittha Pullawan
Tanittha graduated in Material Science (Polymers) from the science faculty of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. During the fourth year of her studies she worked on a project on the preparation of modified cellulose films from waste cotton fabrics using microwave energy. She was granted a scholarship from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Thailand to study in MSc - PhD degrees in the area of polymer composites. She is now working on all-cellulose nanocomposites using Raman spectroscopy, and is investigating the micromechanical properties of these films.
Jim Dugan
Jim Dugan graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from The University of Manchester in 2005. He subsequently spent three years in the chemical industry where he gained experience in organic synthesis, polymer synthesis and colloid science. He then returned to the University of Manchester to the School of Materials to undertake a PhD project supervised by Dr Steve Eichhorn and Dr Julie Gough. His work involves the investigation of the interactions between human cells and cellulosic materials that display organisation at different length scales.
Luis Ribeiro
Luis Ribeiro came to Manchester from Portugal after he completed a MEng degree in Biotechnology Engineering at the university of Algarve (Universidade do Algarve) in Faro, Portugal. Now he is studying towards to a PhD degree, under the supervision of Dr Steve Eichhorn, on the subject "Biomimetic routes to crystals with superior mechanical properties".
Siyu Jin
Siyu Jin is from China where he finished his undergraduate study at Donghua University Shanghai in polymer science and engineering. In his final year of this programme he worked on a research project on 'Vacuum Bag Infusion Moulding Process for Composites' at the key state laboratory for modification of chemical fibres. Then he came to the UK to study on an MPhil programme, monitoring the interfacial properties of carbon fibre-epoxy resin micro composites. After that he transferred to a PhD programme.
Michael Ofem
Michael is from one of the Niger Delta states of Nigeria. He has B.Eng. in 1995 from the Federal University Of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. Between 1997 and 2004 he worked with the cement and flour milling industries. He got his M.Eng from the University of Nigeria in 2008 where his research was on natural composites. He is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Steve Eichhorn. His research is on the Mechanical properties of Biomimetic Composites Based on Seashells.
Yu-Chen Chang
Chun-Heng Huang
Past Group Members
Dr Kenny Kong
Kenny Kong is from Hong Kong. He graduated in MPhys degree with Mathematics and Physics from Victoria University of Manchester. He finished his PhD in Materials Science from University of Manchester, and was then offered a research associate position in the same department. His currently research topics are microstructure and micromechanics of regenerated cellulose and pyrolysied carbon fibres. He is now a PDRA at the University of Nottingham with Dr Ioan Nottigher.
Dr Yat-Tarng Shyng (Tommy)
He came to Manchester in 2001 from Taiwan for his PhD studies. His first degree is in Textile Engineering which led him into composite materials. His initial studies include high performance fibres and composite materials and his recent work is focusing on preparation of carbon nano-structures and electrospinning based on natural cellulose polymers. He is currently studying for a higher Management degree at Manchester University.
Dr Rafeadah Rusli
Rafeadah is from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She graduated in Analytical Chemistry from Universiti Sains Malaysia (University of Science, Malaysia ) and obtained her Master degree from Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra University, Malaysia ) on the subject of "Graft copolymerisation of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate onto sago starch". She works for Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), who funded her PhD degree in the area of interfacial micromechanics of natural cellulose whisker polymer nanocomposites. She has now returned to her position at FRIM in Malaysia.
Dr Deepak Kalaskar
Deepak came from India after completing his B.Tech in chemical Technology from India, in 2003. Then he joined BASF coatings Pvt Ltd. and worked in R & D and technical support for a year. After his brief industrial experience in 2004, Deepak joined Dr Eichhorn’s lab for a PhD. He completed his PhD on Engineered and chemically modified cellulose network for control cell adhesion, under Dr. Eichhorn’s supervision in 2008. Following his PhD, he worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate in biomaterials and stem cells research group at University of Liverpool. In 2010, he received fellowship from Belgium Science policy to work for University Catholic Louvain, Belgium. His current research is focus on bio nano-materials for drug delivery and biomaterials applications.
Dr David Scurr
David graduated with a BSc in Biomedical Materials Science at The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 2005. He then went on to complete a Ph.D under the supervision of Dr. Steve Eichhorn entitled ‘Microstructural deformation mechanisms of natural composite materials’ at The University of Manchester. Following this, within the School of Materials, David worked on two short term post-doc positions involving polymer electrospinning and the characterisation of nuclear graphite materials. At present David works at The University of Nottingham as a Surface Analysis Experimental Officer operating a time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) within the School of Pharmacy.
Mr Antonios Oikonomou
Antonios holds a diploma (MEng Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering, with specialization in Renewable Energy Sources and Environment, from the UoWM, Greece. He has been involved in projects concerning nanostructured/composite materials for energy applications under the supervision of Dr Sofoklis Makridis, UoWM and in the thermal insulation of bioMEMS using porous silicon at the Institute of Microelectronics, NCSR "Demokritos". He completed an MPhil with Dr Eichhorn on composite materials and is now studying for a PhD in Computer Science, University of Manchester.
Mr Tom Kelly
Tom graduated with a BEng in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester in 2008, and went on to complete an MPhil in Composite Materials with the Cellulose and Natural Materials Group in 2009. His research was focused on composites, comprising epoxy resin and regenerated cellulose fibres, which were analysed using Raman Spectroscopy. He now works for a non-regulated water company as a Water Quality Manager in Northern Ireland, having completed the Yorkshire Water graduate scheme in 2010 and working in partnership with Scottish Water, Northern Ireland Water and the Welsh Assembly Government. His work now involves managing the chemistry and analytical techniques (including Spectroscopy) used to ensure the water in Northern Ireland attains the highest quality specifications in Europe.
Dr Laura Farran
Dr Marek Hejda
Dr Beth Mottershead
