Biography
J.A. Szpunar, a professor of Materials Science at University of Saskatchewan, was educated in Poland and received his PhD and D.Sc. degrees from the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Cracow. He has held various visiting positions in at Sussex and Durham Universities in England, worked in laboratories of the Finish Academy of Science, Riso National Laboratories and held visiting professor positions in Seoul National University, Queens University, Tohoku University, Osaka University and Bangalore Institute of Science and Technology. He also served as an adviser to the National Atomic Agency Research Center in Bandung, Indonesia and International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. During 22 years he has been Professor of Materials Science and Henry Birk’s Chair in Metallurgy at McGill University. During his time, at McGill, he founded the “Textures & Microstructure Laboratoryâ€, recognized as a leading world center of microstructural research. During his years at McGill, 30 Ph.D. students and 15 MSc. students graduated under his supervision. He was a leader of 49 major research projects – mostly materials related investigations. Dr. Szpunar joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in August 2009 as Tier I Canada Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Clean Energy and his present research is mainly related to materials for Generation IV nuclear reactors, hydrogen generation and storage and novel techniques to support clean energy programs. His overall research interests extend to various areas of materials related investigations.
Research Interest
His research interest spans various areas of materials related investigations. In particular he is interested in deformation and recrystallization processes in textured metals, structure and properties of thin films, electronic interconnects, high temperature oxidation and corrosion, synergy of wear and corrosion, application of X-ray and neutron diffraction, structure of grain boundaries and other interfaces, intergranular fracture, hydrogen membranes and hydrogen ingress in nuclear materials, superplasticity and special properties of nanocrystalline materials His group is also active in the area of computer simulation of structure and properties of engineering materials. The simulation based research is done on various levels: atomistic, microscopic and macroscopic; Ab-Initio, Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo are used to predict macroscopic properties of materials and to understand various processes that transform texture, grain boundary structure and properties

Dequan Xiao
Director of Center for Integraive Materials Discovery
University of New Haven
USA
Biography
Dequan Xiao completed his PhD at Duke University in 2009 and postdoctoral studies at Yale University from 2009 to 2013. He is the director of Center for Integrative Materials Discovery and the University Research Scholar at the University of New Haven. He is focused on integrating frontier chemical theories with experimental methods to drive the discovery of new materials for the applications in renewable energy and molecular therapy. He has published more than 36 papers in high-impact journals and 3 book chapters, and has been served as the advisory board member of Connecticut NASA Space Grant Consortium.
Research Interest
Inverse molecular design of green catalysts for converting biomass into value-added chemicals: inverse molecular design theory, binding energy analysis of catalytic surfaces, and catalytic hydrogenation of biomass polymers; Computational design for polymer and dye-sensitized solar cells; and De novo design for molecular drugs for Leukemia cancer and Parkinson’s diseases. Keywords: inverse molecular design theory, binding energy analysis, green catalysts, bio fuels, photo voltaic materials, and molecular drugs.
Biography
Dr. Fuqiang Liu is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UMass Lowell, where he leads the Electrochemical Energy Lab. Upon receiving his PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Penn State in 2006, he worked at United Technologies Research Center as a senior researcher (2006-2009). Prior to his current position, he was an Assistant Professor (2009-2015) and then Associate Professor (2015-2016) at University of Texas at Arlington. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers and held ~10 patents and patent applications.
Research Interest
Electrochemical energy generation and storage, Solar energy conversion through photo-electrochemical reactions, Ion-conductive membranes for electrochemical systems, Nanostructured materials.