Photo: Sina Sheikholeslami, CHEMMAT PhD student
We recently emailed Sina to see how he was doing in Canada. He kindly supplied us with the following article, which we found very interesting and also inspiring for our PhD students. Thank you, Sina and congratulations on your new job!
“Corrosion of most materials is, unfortunately, inevitable. Although an accurate estimate is impossible, the annual cost of corrosion exceeds the billion-dollar margin for the capital industries worldwide. However, thanks to advanced research and development programs, materials longevity has been significantly extended over the past few decades. As a materials engineer specialized in corrosion and coatings, I aimed to increase the lifetime of currently available coating products in Australia and New Zealand by introducing new materials with better outdoor performance. In addition, Professors Wei Gao, David Williams, and I have developed a new technique capable of predicting coatings’ long-term performance in a relatively shorter period.
Most importantly, it has always been our primary concern in my PhD studies to consider reducing as many pollutants and hazardous materials as possible while designing new products without compromising their long-term performance. We gladly established a successful collaboration with Fletcher Steel in New Zealand, Swansea University in Wales, and Beckers Group in England, focusing on sustainability and the environmental impact of top roofing products made in New Zealand. Our rewarding research was concluded with valuable information regarding sustainable coating materials from both academic and industry perspectives. I could not have asked for a more engaging PhD journey, and for that, I should thank my supervisors, colleagues, and wonderful people at the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at The University of Auckland.
I moved to Canada and reunited with my family a few months ago when my experimental work was completed. Life routines are slightly different here in Ontario than in New Zealand. Toronto has very good basketball and hockey teams, Raptors and Maple Leafs, which I have started following, and I am getting used to wearing much warmer outfits in winter! But unlike the slight changes in my personal life, my career hit its biggest turn of events recently when I was offered a position at Honda of Canada (HCM). I joined the HCM engineering team as a Materials Associate and Coatings Specialist to support the famous Civic model production in North America. Working at Honda has been the greatest challenge in my career, and I look forward to practicing the best of my engineering knowledge and skills in this new role. Though, I am certain that I would have never gone this far if it was not because of our amazing CHEMMAT group in New Zealand.”
– Written by Sina Sheikholeski, CHEMMAT PhD student
Link to further info regarding Sina’s research:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6716525010057621504-oISx