Committee Members 2025
Dr. Victor Olet
Chair of the Australian ACS Chapter
Dr. Victor Olet completed his PhD in the Discipline of Chemical Engineering at Curtin University in Western Australia. His research focuses on biomass valorisation for transport fuels and as precursors for green plastics and other essential molecules that drive the global economy. In this context, Victor’s current research is in bio-oil upgrading through catalytic esterification with crude glycerol. With a recent focus on computational chemistry, Victor is enhancing his skillset in High Performance Computing for more efficient computational chemistry and general computational science workflows.
Dr. Danny Wong
Chair-Elect of the ACS Australia Chapter
Danny Wong completed a PhD in electrochemistry at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, before taking up a two-year stint as a postdoctoral research associate at Penn State University, USA. It was during this time that Danny became a member of ACS. He returned to Australia to begin his independent research career at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Danny's main research interests cover electroanalytical chemistry and electrochemical sensors. Danny regularly publishes and actively serves as a reviewer for many peer-reviewed international journals. He is a member of The Royal Society of NSW and a Fellow of The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). Within RACI, he served as the Secretary for the Division of Division of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry (1999-2010), the Chair of the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Group of the NSW Branch (2011-2017), and as the President of the NSW Branch (2018 -2021). Danny remains as an active committee member of the NSW Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Group. Danny received a Citation Award from the Division of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry in 2017, and also a Citation Award from the NSW Branch of RACI in 2011. In 2024, Danny was also a member of a committee that reviews analytical chemistry education program throughout the world, after the initiative was funded by IUPAC. Danny is excited to be elected as the Chair-Elect of the Australian Chapter of ACS in 2025 and looks forward to be involved in activities that benefit both ACS and RACI.
Dr. David J. Leaver
Treasurer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. David J. Leaver is a Lecturer in Biochemistry at Charles Sturt University and he graduated from La Trobe University with a Bachelor of Science with Honours (2008) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (2012). David worked as a postdoctoral researcher in medicinal chemistry at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) from 2012-2013 and then he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in chemical biology at Texas Tech University from 2013-2014. In 2014 David accepted an academic position at Sul Ross State University (TX, USA), where he worked for seven years before returning to Australia in 2022. David has been an active ACS member since 2014.
Mr. Fankai (Darren) Peng
Secretary of the ACS Australia Chapter
Fankai (Darren) is a current Ph.D. candidate, senior tutor, as well as a lab demonstrator at the University of Sydney. He completed his master’s degree at the University of Sydney in 2021. During that time, Darren was recognized as a student leader within the university, which involves in many mentoring programs, and showed up in university official website and Instagram many times. Nowadays, Darren’s research interests include rheology and tribology, interfacial science, soft matter, molecular simulations. Darren is currently forcing on research related to multi-phase interfacial problems via both simulations and experiments. He has a comprehensive knowledge of interdisciplinary subjects.
Dr. Hamidreza Mahdavi
Communication Officer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Hamidreza Mahdavi received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Kermanshah University of Technology in 2013 and his M.S. from Iran University of Science & Technology in 2016. From 2016 to 2018, he worked as a Senior Technician and served as EDMS deputy head at Petropars Operation & Management Company. Afterwards, he pursued his Ph.D. at Monash University from 2018 to 2022. From 2022 to 2024, he served as a Teaching Associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Monash University. Moreover, in 2022, he also joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, where he is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
Dr. Joshua A. Powell
Early Career Chemists Committee of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr Joshua A. Powell completed his BSc(Hons) in Chemistry at the University of Queensland in 2018 and his PhD in Chemistry at Texas A&M University in 2023. Following a 12-month stint in industry (framergy, Inc.) performing commercial research and development of porous materials, he returned to the University of Queensland as a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering. His current research focuses on the design and application of thermally-transformed metal-organic frameworks. In addition to his primary research, he has been an advocate in chemical safety and graduate student wellbeing within both ACS and the chemistry community at large.
Dr. Christopher Barnett
Early Career Chemists Committee of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Christopher Barnett is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney. He completed both his undergraduate and PhD at the University of New South Wales, Australia, developing an understanding of how to tune the electronic properties of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes for organocatalysis. He then spent a year and a half in Industry as a Validation Chemist for one of Australia's largest consumer chemical manufacturers, focussing on automating data collection and analysis, as well as implementing a flow system for processing a raw material. He returned to academia in 2019 when he took a postdoctoral researcher position with Professor Anthony Masters, and is now working with Professor Thomas Maschmeyer in the Laboratory of Advanced Catalysis for Sustainability, focussing on electrocatalysis and reactor design. He has a passion for technology, and uses additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping to develop high-throughput screening methods to efficiently screen catalysts.
Mr. Tim Harte, GAICD, MRACI, DLI
DEI Officer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Tim Harte is a PhD candidate at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), researching the application of solvate ionic liquids (SILs) in carbon fibre structural energy storage systems. Tim’s research spans physical, supramolecular, electrochemical, polymer, and materials chemistry, as well as engineering. In addition to his scientific work, Tim has contributed extensively to the chemistry community through service on committees for the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and the International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN), and as Newsletter Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC) Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids Discussion Group (MSILDG). Beyond chemistry, Tim is a passionate advocate for disability rights, holding leadership roles at national and international levels to advance equity and inclusion. He is committed to fostering collaboration across disciplines and building a more inclusive scientific community.
Mr. Daniel Kotze
Early Career Chemists Committee of the ACS Australia Chapter
Daniel Kotze is a third-year B.Eng. (Hons.) in chemical/metallurgical engineering and B.Sc. in chemistry dual degree student at The University of Queensland. In 2024, he worked as a junior chemical engineer at former Zinc-Bromine flow battery manufacturer, Redflow. Here, he worked on developing functional electrode materials. Following this, Daniel took a position working as an undergraduate research assistant at the Pyrometallurgy Innovation Centre (Pyrosearch). His focus has been on conducting experiments and developing techniques for measuring viscosities of molten metal oxide slags. Through his student and internship experiences, Daniel hopes to effectively convey the needs and concerns of other early career chemists.
Dr. Elizabeth Yuriev
Education Officer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Elizabeth Yuriev is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Education, ACS Publications, and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy). She is an experienced chemistry educator and education researcher. Her work focuses on innovations to improve learning and teaching of employability skills, with an emphasis on skill development in problem solving, collaboration, and study skills. Her achievements in education innovation have been recognised with numerous awards: Monash Parkville Student Association “Lecturer of the Year” award (2005, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022), Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences award for Technological Innovation in Learning and Teaching (2019), Faculty award for Programs that Enhance Learning (2015, 2023), Faculty Teaching Excellence award (2007 & 2016), Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Excellence award (2006 & 2016), Monash Teacher Accelerator award (2016), Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (The Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2008), and RACI Chemistry Educator of the Year award (2019) and Chemical Education Medal (2023). She is influencing the quality of pharmacy and science education through her scholarly research, mentoring, presentations, publications, and editorial work. Elizabeth has published her findings in Journal of Chemical Education, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, Higher Education Research & Development, and other journals.
Dr. Stephen Clarke
Immediate Past Chair of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Stephen Clarke is recently elected as Chair of the Australian ACS Chapter (2023- 2024). He graduated as an Applied Chemist (1978) working for 17 years, with specialist building products, and obtained a Master’s degree in Applied Chemistry (1983). In the Ian Wark Research Institute (IWRI – University of South Australia – UniSA), he undertook an industry/Australian Government funded PhD (1996-2000), with Dow Corning Corporation – and received the IWRI medal (2001) for best PhD thesis. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the IWRI for 2 years then in 2002 was offered an academic role at Flinders University, leading his Materials & BioEnergy group. In mid-2012, he transferred to the Mawson Institute (UniSA), leading his Clarke Laboratories, until 2016. He generated $14.5 million dollars AUD (cash) funds, supporting his research in academia. After leaving academia, in 2016, Dr. Clarke worked briefly as an industry consultant, then as Research Team Manager for COOE Pty. Ltd., before being appointed as Chief Scientist for Change Climate Pty. Ltd. in April 2019.
Dr. David Kehoe
Industry Division of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr David Kehoe has been a practicing Industrial Chemist for over 40 years, with almost 30 years focused on industrial R&D. He completed a PhD in Applied Science (Polymer Science and Surface Analysis), having previously completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Chemistry (organometallic synthesis). He has worked in a variety of industries with Australian and major global companies, including automotive component manufacturers (polyurethane and plastic interior components), the oil industry (aftermarket fuel and lubricant additives, automotive coolants, fuel, automotive and industrial lubricants and re-refined base oils), and also with an Australian University to promote Industry-University collaborative research in the areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology. He has been active with the ACS since 2018, joining the committee of the Australian Chapter of the ACS in January 2024, to promote Industry ACS membership.
Acknowledgement
American Chemical Society (Australia Chapter) would like to acknowledge the traditional owner of the land on which we work. We would like to pay respect to elders past, present and emerging and any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today.
