Committee Members 2026
Dr. Danny Wong
Chair of the Australian ACS 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. Marcus Korb
Chair-Elect of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Marcus Korb is a research fellow at the University of Western Australia. He completed his undergraduate degree at Technical University Chemnitz under Prof. H. Lang, followed by a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry which he completed in 2017. After a short post-doctoral stay at TUC and the excellence cluster MERGE in Chemnitz, he moved to UWA in 2019 with a Fellowship from the Forrest Research Foundation. He established his independent group in 2023 through a DECRA, awarded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and a CB and GF Robertson Fellowship and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2025. In 2024, he received the EMCR award from the School of Molecular Sciences (UWA), was appointed to the EMCR Executive of the Australian Academy of Sciences and the National Committee for Chemistry in 2026.
Dr. David J. Leaver
Treasurer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. David J. Leaver is a Senior 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.
Gbemi Abass
Assistant Treasurer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Mr Gbemi F. Abass obtained his Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering in China, where he developed a strong foundation in materials chemistry and computational materials research. He is currently a Ph.D. researcher in the School of Science at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra, focusing on computational materials chemistry for sustainable hydrogen production and storage. He has presented his research at national materials chemistry conferences and received several recognitions, including the Best Student Talk Award, Flash Talk Presentation Award, and the 2025 ACT 3MT Regional Winner Award. He serves as the Assistant Treasurer of the ACS Australia Chapter. Gbemi is passionate about using chemistry to advance sustainable energy research and contribute to the chemical science community in Australia and beyond.
Dr. Victor Olet
Immediate Past Chair of the ACS Australia 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. Fankai (Darren) Peng
Secretary of the ACS Australia Chapter
Fankai (Darren) completed his Ph.D. and Master Degree at the University of Sydney, He now works as a senior tutor, as well as a lab demonstrator at the University of Sydney. When Darren was a postgraduate student, he 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.
Ms Pallavi Saini
Assistant Secretary of the ACS Australia Chapter
Ms. Pallavi Saini is a final-year Ph.D. student in the School of Science at RMIT University, focusing on the development of ruthenium-based catalysts for sustainable hydrogen production technologies. She is a Secretary Assistant at ACS Australia chapter and a woman in STEM who is passionate about making science more open, inclusive, and connected to real-world impact. For her, research is not only about discovery, but also about creating space for helping diverse voices shape the future of technology and sustainability.
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 and Technology in 2016. From 2016 to 2018, he worked as a Senior Technician and EDMS Deputy Head at Petropars Operation and Management Company. He then pursued his Ph.D. at Monash University from 2018 to 2022. From 2022 to 2025, he served as a Research Fellow in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Monash University. Since 2022, he has also been working as a Teaching Associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. In 2025, he joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as a Research Fellow.
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. Christopher Barnett
Early Career Chemists Committee of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Christopher Barnett is a Lecturer in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney and a researcher with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Carbon Science and Innovation. His work spans electrocatalysis, reactor engineering, and carbon‑transforming catalytic systems. He completed his BSc and PhD at UNSW, specialising in tuning N‑Heterocyclic Carbene electronic properties for organocatalysis. After time in industry as a Validation Chemist where he automated analytical workflows and implemented continuous‑flow processing, he returned to academia, undertaking postdoctoral research with Professors Anthony Masters and Thomas Maschmeyer. He integrates additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping into his research to accelerate catalyst screening and technology development.
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 (MOFs) and MOF synthesis from upcycled waste. 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. Mahta Mansouri
Early Career Chemists Committee of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Mahta Mansouri is a medicinal chemist with expertise in both ligand- and structure-based drug design approaches. She began her research career in fragment-based design of HIV-1 RT inhibitors before completing her PhD at Monash University in the Scammells and McGowan laboratories. Her doctoral work led to a novel class of Plasmodium M1/M17 aminopeptidase inhibitors with improved potency and physicochemical properties. This research resulted in multiple publications, conference awards, a provisional patent, and the RACI Graham Johnston Best Thesis Award. In 2023, Dr Mansouri joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute as a postdoctoral research officer in the Sleebs laboratory, contributing to antimalarial and commercial immuno-oncology programs. She joined the WEHI node of MedChem Australia end of 2025, supporting national drug discovery initiatives through small molecule design and synthesis.
Dr. Shane Hickey
Diversity, equity, and inclusion Officer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr Hickey completed his PhD in medicinal chemistry at Deakin University in 2015. In 2016 he moved to the University of South Australia (now Adelaide University) as a post doctoral researcher, and is now a teaching-research academic who leads the Synthesis of Biologically Active Molecules research group at AU. His research lies at the interface of chemistry and biology and is particularly interested in how lipid metabolic pathways are dysregulated in disease. His research program is comprised of two main areas of synthesise and apply novel organic and inorganic live cell imaging agents to better understand mechanisms that underpin disease and; design and synthesise new anticancer, antimicrobial and antiviral therapeutics. To support his research program, Dr Hickey has partnered with collaborators from academia and industry, both nationally and internationally, that has resulted securing grant funding, publications, student supervisions and end-stage industry outcomes.
Dr. Fei Liu
Industry Officer of the ACS Australia Chapter
Fei is currently Associate Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University. With training in organic and biological chemistry (PhD from Yale Chemistry followed by an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Medical School), Fei is developing synthetic methods/bioactive molecules with her research group and industry partners for applications in chemistry, biology, agriculture, and medicine. The intent is to discover and create mechanisms that may build from chemical manipulation at the bond level to access synergistic reactivities in molecular/biological systems, in which changes within a molecule are coupled to interactions between molecules for finding new pathways toward continuous and communicative function. Fei also pursues entrepreneurial research (co-founder MinimumBio) in new drug modalities.
Dr. Stephen Clarke
Zone 6 Councillor and General Committee Member of the ACS Australia Chapter
Dr. Stephen Clarke was elected as Chair of the Australian ACS Chapter (2023–2024) and was Immediate Past Chair in 2025. He was also elected as ACS Zone 6 Councillor, representing 3,915 ACS members in the Asia-Pacific region for three years from January 2026 to December 2028. 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.
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.
