Meet the Team

Meet the faculty, staff, and researchers of the Queen’s University Nuclear Materials Group.

Faculty

Dr. Mark Daymond

Professor

Research Interest: Micromechanisms of deformation in metals, ceramics and composites; slip, twinning, phase transformation, cracking. Both experimental and modelling.
Development and application of advanced neutron and x-ray scattering techniques in materials research, optimisation of diffraction optics, data analysis and statistical treatments. Both experimental and modelling.
Nuclear materials
Phone: (613)533-2193
Email: mark.daymond@queensu.ca
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Dr. Zhongwen Yao, LEL

Associate Professor

Research Interest: Ni-based superalloys, Oxide Dispersion-strengthened (ODS) Steels, Zr alloys, and other nuclear materials etc.
Nanostructure characterization in metals
Thin film coating technology
Transmission electron microscopy imaging technology
Phone: (613)-533-3435
Email: yaoz@queensu.ca
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Prof. Rick Holt

Emeritus professor

Research Interest: Performance of reactor components.
Phone: (613)533-6831
Email: richard.holt@queensu.ca

Dr. Malcolm Griffiths

Adjunct Professor

Research Interest: Radiation damage in nuclear reactor core materials and the development of improved materials to suit particular nuclear reactor applications.
Development of techniques and methods to quantitatively characterise material microstructures before and after irradiation using transmission electron microscopes and X-ray diffraction facilities.
Irradiation tests using electron, gamma, ion and neutron irradiation.
Modelling irradiation deformation and mechanical property changes.
Email: malcolm.griffiths@queensu.ca

Dr. Ning Gao

Visiting Professor

Email: ng51@queensu.ca

Dr. Suraj Persaud

Assistant Professor

Research Interest: Corrosion and Environmental Degradation of Materials, Materials Characterization, Nuclear Materials
Phone: (613)-533-6000 ext. 74015
Email: suraj.persaud@queensu.ca
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Dr. Laurent Béland

Assistant Professor

Research Interest: Computational materials physics. The types of methods I use include:

• Atomistic simulation on short timescales (molecular dynamics)
• Atomistic simulations on long timescales (accelerated dynamics)
• Mesoscale simulations
• Classical force-field development, based on empirical data and quantum mechanics

These simulations apply to materials such as:
• Metals and alloys
• Cements
• Oxides

Phone: (613)-817-5441
Email: laurent.beland@queensu.ca
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Dr. Levente Balogh

Assistant Professor

Research Interest: Irradiation of Materials, Nuclear Materials, Structural Materials, Materials Characterization, X-ray and Neutron Diffraction, Microstructure and Mechanical Property Relations, Accelerator-based Neutron Generation and Spectroscopy.
Phone: (613)533-6000, ext. 7-4570
Email: levente.balogh@queensu.ca
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Staff

Tom Feuerstake

RMTL Manager

Email: tom.feuerstake@queensu.ca

Curtis McDonald

Accelerator Operator, Lab Technician

Duties: Operating and maintaining RMTL facilities and equipment. Safety supervision and training.
Phone: (613)548-8357
Email: curtis.mcdonald@queensu.ca
Links: Published Works

Candace Chabot

Administrative Research Assistant

Duties: Administrative duties, purchasing, invoicing, account reconciliation, web design and maintenance, event organization and booking.
Email: candace.chabot@queensu.ca
Links: LinkedIn

Postdocs

Dr. Peyman Saidi

Postdoctoral fellow

Research Interest: Studying equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase transformations utilizing atomistic simulation techniques such as molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo and DFT.
Email: peyman.saidi@queensu.ca
Links: Google Scholar
LinkedIn

Dr. Fei Long

Postdoctoral fellow

Research Interest: Zirconium alloys; Irradiation damage; In-situ TEM characterization, deformation mechanism.
Email: f.long@queensu.ca
Links: Google Scholar

Dr. Kazi Ahmmed

Postdoctoral fellow

Research Interest: Characterization of Materials Deformation Behavior, Thermal Creep Analysis of Zirconium based Materials, Microstructural evaluation analysis by Line Profile Analysis (X-ray, Neutron Diffraction Data).
Currently working at Reactor Materials Testing Laboratories (RMTL) and involved in multi projects for the development of Proton Ion Radiation Sample Holder.
Phone: (613)929-2775
Email: kazi.ahmmed@queensu.ca
Links: Research Gate
LinkedIn

Dr. Hong Qin

Postdoctoral fellow

Research Interest: Additive manufacturing-microstructure characterization of selective laser melted (SLM) aluminum alloys and Inconel alloys.
Email: hq6@queensu.ca
Links: Initiation and Accomodation Article
Variant Selection Article
Effect of Dynamic Strain Aging Article
Microstructure and Texture Evolution Article

Dr. Matthew Topping

Postdoctoral fellow

Research Interest: Nuclear Materials, proton-irradiations to understand the mechanisms of dislocation loop evolution, ion irradiations in a number of systems including Zirconium and Nickel, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM).
Email: matthew.topping@queensu.ca
Links: Research Gate
LinkedIn