PhD

Tyler Alexander Davis

Tyler carried out doctoral research on the grain refinement of magnesium alloys. Specifically, he studied how the introduction of Titanium-based additives and grain refiners (prepared via Spark Plasma Sintering) influences the evolution of hot tears and other casting defects. His work extensively focused on materials characterization and testing.

Kris Mackowiak

Kris received both his BASc and MASc in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University. His PhD research under the supervision of Dr. Lukas Bichler was on the extraction of tellurium from mining slag. He is continuing to work with Dr. Bichler on various projects including corrosion, metal refining, and material characterization. Kris is currently at Kingston Process Metallurgy.

Somi Doja

Somi received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia, India in 2015. She obtained her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of British Columbia-Okanagan (UBCO) in 2017. Her research focused on processing and testing materials for electrochemical applications. Somi did her Ph.D on recycling, upgrading, and testing end-of-life tires for energy storage applications. She is currently at PDF at the University of Toronto.

Master’s

Amit Azad

Received B.Sc (2005) in Mechanical Engineering from Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Bangladesh; MBA (2010) in Management Information Systems from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; and M.A.Sc (2012) in Mechanical Engineering from UBCO. M.A.Sc research topic was Grain Refinement of Magnesium Alloy. Professional Engineer (EGBC) in Oil & Gas Pipeline and Mechanical engineering field. Gained extensive experience in pipeline and compressor station design, material selection and construction. Currently working as a Senior Project Engineer for FortisBC Energy Inc. (Gas).

Vishank Kumar

Vishank works in the battery industry as an Associate Scientist for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries. His main areas of interest are studying the structural, electronic and vibrational properties of battery materials from first-principles-based Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. He did his master’s thesis with Prof. Bichler on grain refinement of high-strength aluminum alloys for automotive applications before moving to Belgium, where he obtained his Ph.D. in computational materials science.

Karen Edwards

My research focused on cubic zirconia doped with rare earth metals, manufactured via spark plasma sintering. I had the pleasure to work with groups in Canada, India and Spain during my Master’s at UBC Okanagan.

Levi Lafortune

Levi studied under Dr. Bichler from 2016-2019, pursuing his master’s degree and conducting research in the metal casting and spark plasma sintering laboratories. His thesis investigated the feasibility of developing a novel grain refiner for strengthening cast aluminum alloys. After graduation, Levi began working for a drilling products manufacturer in Alberta, designing tooling primarily for construction drilling.

Vladimir Neykov

Vlado conducted a research project involving a local company. The research was on the weldability of abrasion-resistant steel AR200. During the project, a neutron beam facility was used to evaluate the effect of heat treatment on residual stresses in the welds. Also, the effect of heat treatment on the mechanical properties of AR200 was evaluated.

Justin Mok

Justin had worked in Dr. Bichler’s metallurgical lab while perusing his Master’s degree. He worked to develop TiC-based master alloys to strengthen 300 series Aluminum alloys during the metal casting process. After graduating, Justin has been working closely with turbine engines. His first role had him working in a helicopter engine repair facility. He is currently working in the power utility industry that use gas turbines to generate electrical power.

Sadhak Gautam

Sadhak completed his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from SRM University in 2017. Then he worked as a Trainee-Engineer (Mechanical) at SEW, Surat. In May 2019, he joined the group as a MASc student and started working as a Graduate Research Assistant under Dr. Bichler’s supervision. His research focused on the development and characterization of wear-resistant alloys for mining applications.

Undergraduates

Daryus Ahmed

Daryus joined as a third-year mechanical engineering / mechatronics student. Daryus has supported ongoing projects related to bio-carbon recovery and materials characterization.

Darren Evan Widjaja

Darren was a mechanical-mechatronics engineering student with a particular interest in material engineering and robotics. Darren was involved in supporting PhD students working on recovery of recovered Carbon Black.

Visiting Students

Olusoji O. Ayodele (VIRS – PhD)

Olusoji’s research focused on investigating the effect of heating rates on the microstructures and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes reinforced nickel aluminide prepared by spark plasma sintering.

Diego Pires Gurgel ( VIRS – PhD)

Diego received his bachelor’s degrees in Science&Technology and in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of the Semi-Arid Region (2011 and 2014), where he also obtained his master’s degree in Systems of Communication and Automation (2016). In his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, Diego is working at the Laboratory of Ceramic Materials and Special Metals (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte), developing super hard materials via powder metallurgy, using High Pressure and High-Temperature conditions. Part of his research was developed at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan (2019-2020) as a Visiting Internship Researcher Student under Dr. Bichler’s supervision.