SANTEVATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Fellow With the School of Mechanical
Job Titles:
- Director
- Hub Director and Head
Scientia Professor Chun Wang is the Hub Director and Head, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW and an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (FTSE). Prior to joining UNSW 2016 he held the appointments as the Head of Advanced Composites Technologies at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation between 1995 and 2009, and the Director of the Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Research Centre at RMIT University between 2009 and 2016.
His research interests include mechanics of multifunctional composites, and light alloys. Many of his research findings have been translated to practical applications, including as multiaxial fatigue design model in a world-leading software (Wang-Brown model in MSC Fatigue), standard for designing composite repairs, and time-reversal imaging algorithm adopted in commercial products for structural health monitoring. He is currently leading a team to develop wearable sensors for monitoring vital physiological markers for tracking human health.
Prof. Cyrille Boyer is the codirector of Australian Centre for NanoMedicine and Deputy Head of School (Research), School of Chemical Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Senior Lecturer
- Chief Investigator
Dr Shuying Wu is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Engineering, Macquarie University. Her research interests encompass multifunctional polymer nanocomposites, flexible and stretchable sensors and conductors, energy harvester, and carbon-based nanomaterials. One of her recent research focuses is the flexible and stretchable polymer nanocomposites for the application of wearable physical sensors (electromechanical and temperature sensors). These sensors can be worn directly on body or integrated in clothing and have shown significant promise in detecting changes in body temperature, pulse, respiration rate, and skin deformation associated with different body movements. Through the Hub, Dr Wu will investigate the potential applications of these sensors in gait monitoring, early diagnosis of diseases such as congestive heart failure, prevention and/or management of chronic conditions such as lymphedema.
Jin Zhang's research focuses on the preparation, characterisation and functionalisation of fibres and composites. Jin has extensive experience in endowing polymers (at ultrafine fibre, film and bulk forms) with functionalities (i.e. mechanical, sensing and energy harvesting) by introducing nanofillers. Jin also has broad expertise in the design, characterisation and processing of fibre, yarn, compound yarn and textiles. Jin has published in relevant fields to this Hub including polymer nanocomposite sensors and flexible piezoelectric, triboelectric and hybrid piezo-triboelectric nanogenerators and self-powered sensors. The flexible, stretchable energy harvesters developed can power sensors for real-time monitoring of the vital biophysical signals of end users and have many applications including compression garments, smart socks, and patient gowns, etc., where the devices need to undergo large deformation during normal wear. The hybrid nanogenerators developed exploit the synergy between piezoelectric and triboelectric mechanisms to improve energy harvesting efficiencies and address the energy and power needs of portable and wearable electronic devices.
Dr Shuhua Peng is an ARC DECRA Fellow with the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering UNSW. His current research interests are to understand and design soft and stretchable materials that possess unique micro/nanostructures and explore their extraordinary functions in technologies such as wearable sensors, energy harvesting and storage, soft robotics, and controlled surface functionalization and wettability. In order to achieve these research goals, he is advancing fundamental knowledge on interfaces between functional polymer nanocomposites, colloidal and interface science, and bioinspired design. Through the Hub, Dr Peng will investigate the potential applications of these wearable sensors in for biosignal monitoring.