Dr Catherine Whitby PhD, BSc

Contact details

• Ph: 64 6 356 9099 ext. 86007
  Location: Sc A3.09, Science Tower A
  Campus: Turitea

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy - University of Melbourne (2001)
• Bachelor of Science - University of New South Wales (1997)

Research Interests

I am interested in the edges (surfaces and interfaces) that control the properties of materials like paints, sunscreens, lubricants and dairy foods. All these materials are colloids. They are made of drops, bubbles and particles dispersed in a liquid. The drops, bubbles and particles are nanometres to micrometres in size.

I investigate how the chemical properties of drop (bubble or particle) surfaces control how colloidal materials flow and behave. A focus of my work is on using nanomaterials to modify the drop and bubble surface chemistry. This strategy enables me to tune the structure, stability and flow of soft materials used in food, pharmaceutical and agricultural products.

I use microscopy and rheology tools to do my research. I use these techniques to probe inside colloidal materials and investigate their physical and chemical properties.

Research Opportunities

• PhD scholarship  (15/01/2015) PhD project in colloid and surface chemistry

Thematics

Resource Development and Management, Health and Well-being, Future Food Systems

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Chemical Science (030000): Colloid and Surface Chemistry (030603): Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural (030600)

Keywords

Chemistry

Physical Chemistry

Colloid and Surface Science

Current Projects

Teaching

123.101 - Chemistry and Living Systems - first year chemistry laboratory supervision (33 contact hours, 342 students)

123.102 - Chemistry and the Material World - Thermodynamics module (8 contact hours, 120 students)

123.201 - Chemical Energetics - Phase Diagrams and Energy modules and supervising second year physical chemistry laboratory (48 contact hours, 60 students)

123.271 - Molecules to Materials - Soft Matter module (8 contact hours, 53 students)

236.201 - Nanoscience - Nanochemistry module (8 contact hours, 5 students)

123.311 - Advanced Physical and Analytical Chemistry - Heterogeneous catalysis module and third year physical chemistry laboratory supervision (28 contact hours, 9 students)

123.712-H - Advanced Nanoscience and Physical Chemistry - Experimental Methods in Surface Chemistry (4 contact hours, 12 students)

Courses Coordinated

• 123.201 Chemical Energetics
• 123.311 Advanced Physical and Analytical Chemistry

Current Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

• Arka Gupta - Doctor of Philosophy
  Development of novel CT based Anthelmintics to overcome the drug resistance problem in nematode infested ruminants.
• Asif Rehmani - Doctor of Philosophy
  Printed Sensors for Indoor Air Quality
• Ben Westberry - Doctor of Philosophy
  Investigating the slow dynamics of pectin gel networks
• Sashikumar Ramamirtham - Doctor of Philosophy
  Rheological Studies of Interfaces Stabilized by Protein-Polymer Complexes
• Susav Pradhan - Doctor of Philosophy
  investigating the application of controlled emulsion cell mimics for understanding cell mechanics
• view more...
• Hossein Etemadi - Doctor of Philosophy
  Processing, Surface Engineering and Characterisation of Magnetic Hydrogels for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications
• Yang Li - Doctor of Philosophy
  Refining our current understanding of soil organic matter stabilisation to address the two-fold challenge of food security and climate change.

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

• 2019 - Benjamin Munro - Doctor of Philosophy
  Structure and properties of tunable Pickering emulsions
• 2019 - Adil Alkas - Doctor of Philosophy
  Synthesis of Multicomponent Metal-Organic frameworks and Investigations of Their Physical Properties

Other Links

• Research group site - Research group webpage