A clean solution for gases
Photo: Chemmat’s Dr Saeid Baroutian Researchers at the University of Auckland have estimated that the anaesthetic gases released by one hospital annually in New Zealand have the carbon footprint of 500 return plane journeys between New Zealand and London....
Making food safe using pressure instead of heat
Photo: Chemmat’s Professor Mohammed Farid Professor Farid often depicts the pressure exerted in high pressure processing visually, as two elephants standing on a coin. The Ministry for Primary Industries recently approved the use of high pressure...
Celebrating the career of Professor John Chen
https://www.icheme.org/about-us/icheme-worldwide/new-zealand/kennedy-wunsch-lecture/On 15 July 2019, staff members and friends came together to celebrate the career of Professor John Chen, and wish him all the best for his retirement years commencing 1 Aug 2019. Current Head of Department Associate Professor Ashvin Thambyah welcomed guests and gave a...
Chemmat – well presented at Cambridge
In May we had a visit from Chemmat graduate Reece Oosterbeek, who is in the midst of an exciting PhD program at Cambridge University. Reece received a prestigious Woolf Fisher scholarship to undertake doctoral studies at the Department of Materials Science and...
A great outcome from MIT
Congratulations to Dr Geran Zhang – Chemmat grad who completed a PhD at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Geran visited the department in May with the good news that he has not only completed his PhD at MIT, where he was on a full scholarship...
Chemmat Mixer 2019 – Shadows
Each year the department ‘facilitates’ a mixer, organised by the Year Three students, that brings both staff and students of the department for an evening of casual mixing. The aim of this annual event is to foster a sense of collegiality and camaraderie amongst all...
Urbanaut Brewery Tour
By Thomas Chong, CHEMMAT student On the 10/5/2019, the groovy crew of CMESA visited the Urbanauts Brewery for a day of “educational” sampling and exposure to what a chemical and materials engineering degree can offer. After the overwhelmingly positive response from...
Ramadhan – Breaking Fast together with our Muslim Colleagues
The Chemmat PG students organised a potluck on 24th May 2019 to enjoy a meal in observation of the day’s breaking of fasting during the Ramadhan period. Both Muslim and non-Muslim staff and students brought a variety of dishes and shared the food amongst much...
Goals of Chemmat’s Teaching & Learning Committee
Photo: Assoc Prof Peng Cao Chemmat’s Teaching and Learning Committee, chaired by A/P Peng Cao, is working to achieve Chemmat’s strategic goals relating to teaching and learning. In order to reduce the number of red-flagged courses, the Committee is...
Alumni: Paula Steinmetz, Watercare Senior Project Manager
Paula Steinmetz (nee Ah Kuoi) was the first Pasifika woman in New Zealand to study chemical and materials engineering. She’s now a senior engineer at Auckland’s Watercare. Read about Paula’s journey...
Alumni: 2 x Chemmat students start bakery
Two of our past graduates Rosie Sargisson and Jeff Fong have opened their own bakery in New Plymouth. Read about their journey here
Autumn Graduation – 6 May 2019
The department enjoyed celebrating the success of our graduates, both undergrad and postgrad, as they marched onto stage at the Aotea Center to collect their hard-won certificates. All the best to all graduates!
May 2019 – MPI publishes review on High Pressure Processes (HPP) applied as an alternative to thermal pasteurisation
In May this year, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) published a commissioned review of the scientific literature on high pressure processing (HPP) to address validation expectations for HPP as a control measure for the inactivation of food borne bacterial...
Students visit Methanex
On Thursday, 21 and Friday, 22 March a group of 56 students and three staff from the University of Auckland visited Methanex NZ Ltd to provide practical experience on a live plant. This visit is organised every year by Robert Kirkpatrick and Harvey Weake who are both...