Professor Amanda Ellis

Academic Status

College of Science and Engineering

+61 8 82013104

amanda.ellis@flinders.edu.au

Physical Sciences Building (3134)

GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Prof. Amanda Ellis graduated with a Ph.D (Applied Chemistry) from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2003. She then undertook two postdocs in the USA, including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and New Mexico State University. After these she returned to New Zealand as a prestigious Foundation of Research Science and Technology Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Industrial Research Ltd (now Callaghan Innovations). In 2006 Amanda commenced at Flinders University as a teaching/research academic. Since then she has secured over $20M in funding from the ARC and non-ARC sources on projects involving novel polymer coatings, functionalised carbon nanotubes and graphene, microfluidics, genotyping and DNA nanotechnology. Currently, she is a Board member of both the Royal Australia Chemical Institute (RACI) and Membrane Society of Australasia (MSA).

Qualifications

Prof. Ellis has a PhD (Applied Chemistry) from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in 2003.

Honours, awards and grants

Honours/Awards

Erskine Fellowship (University of Canterbury) 2016

Theo Murphy High FlyersThink Tank (Australian Academy of Sciences) 2016

RACI Fellow 2013

ARC Future Fellowship 2014-2018

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Early-Career Reseacher, Flinders University 2010

New Zealand Foundation of Science and Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship (NZFRST) 2004-2006 (Ellis) Total 217,500: Molecular self-assembly for conductive polymeric microfluidic devices.

Selected Recent Major Grants

ARC LIEF x 8 grants

ARC Linkage Grant (LP160100071) Printable technologies for high security documents and consumer products. $450,000 (2016-2019).

ARC Future Fellowship (FT13100211) Smart polymer-DNA hybrids as recognition sites for advanced DNA nanotechnology applications. $860,000 (2013-2018).

National Centre of Excellence Grant. Assessing the biofouling role of microbes in the desalination system; from the intake pipe to the reverse osmosis membranes. $515,400 (2011-2013).

National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Grant. Development of universally applicable coatings and additives for state-of-the-art reverse osmosis and pretreatment membranes: non-leaching, antimicrobial, low-fouling, chlorine resistant and improved compaction properties. $388,000 (2010-2013).

ARC Discovery Grant (DP1101679) Primary producers' morphological flexibility under environment constraints. $300,000 (2010-2013).

National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Grant. Nanostructure of Diatoms: A predctive model for species sustainability. $248,000 (2010-2012).

ARC Linkage Grant (LP100100616) Materials Engineering Solutions for Tomorrow's Water Resources. $896,251 (2009-2012).

Queensland Government National and International Research Alliances Program (NIRAP). Australian Future Forensics Innovation Network. $2M (Flinders $411,000) (2009-2012).

SA Premier Science and Research Fund (PSRF) Development of materials engineering solutions for treatment of Murray-Darling Basin sourced water supplies. $1,100,000 (2008-2011).

ARC Discovery Grant (DP0878183) Multifunctional mixed matrix membranes incorporating aligned carbon nanotubes. $330,000 (2008-2010).

Key responsibilities

Deputy Associate Dean of Research Faculty of Science and Engineering
Course co-ordinator - Bachelor of Science (Clean Technology)(Hons) and Graduate Diploma in Clean Technology
Research Leader and Executive Committee Member Flinders Centre of Nanoscale Science and Technology

Research expertise

Macromolecular and materials chemistry

Medical biotechnology

Nanotechnology

Physical chemistry

Research interests

Amanda's reseach interests includes the chemical modification of 2D and 3D surfaces, in particular, carbon nanotubes/nanoparticles, graphene and quantum dots. She utitises these materials in polymer matrices for work in microfluidics, membranes science (water treatment/desalination), clean technologies and DNA nanotechnologies.

Topic coordinator

CTEC1101 Clean Technology 1

NANO2701_ Structure and Characterisation

Topic lecturer

NANO4711_ Advanced Nanotechnology

NANO2701_ Structure and Characterisation

CTEC2101 Clean Technology 2

CTEC3101 Clean Technology 3

NANO1101 Fundamentals of Nanotechnology

CTEC1101 Clean Technology 1

Supervisory interests

DNA technology

Drinking water treatment

Graphene oxide

Membranes and biofilms

Microarray analysis

Polymers

Higher degree by research supervision

Current

Principal supervisor: DNA genotyping (1), Filtration Membranes (1), DNA nanotechnology (2), Polymer (2)

Associate supervisor: Biofouling; desalination (1), Biosensing (1), Graphene (1), Solar cells (1), Nanoparticles (1), Green Chemistry (1), Polymer (1)

Completion

Principal supervisor: Water treatment; drug delivery (1), Capillary electrophoresis (1), Microfluidics (1), Polymers (1)

Associate supervisor: Carbon nanotubes (1), Solar Cells (1), Biosensing (1), Surface modification (1), Microfluidics (1)

Publications

Professional engagement

Co-Convenor 9th International Membrane Science and Technology Conference (IMSTEC), Adelaide, Dec 2016.
Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) commitee (PCE panel) 2015.
Convenor 35th Australasian Polymer Symposium (APS) Gold Coast, July 2015.
Past Chair - Royal Australian Chemical Society (RACI) (National Polymer Division) (2015)
Executive Management Committee - Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology (CNSST)
Organising Commitee - RACI National Congress, Adelaide, Dec 2014.
Conference Chair - Australian Research Network for Advanced Materials and Australian Research Council Nanotechnology Network (ARNAM/ARCNN) Workshop Flinders University 19^th-23^rd July 2010.
Organisation Committee International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC39), Adelaide, July 2010.
Technical Committee Member - Australian Future Forensics InnovationNetwork (2009-)
Committee Member of the South Australian node (SARF) of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) (2007-present)
Committee Member - Australia New Zealand Forensic Science Society (ANZFSS) (SA Branch Inc.) (2008-present)
Member - Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW) (2007-present)
Working Committee Member of the Australian Research Network for Advanced Materials (ARNAM) run by the ARC (review 4 rounds (approx. 60) travel grant proposals per year) (2007-present)
Program Committee- SPIE Smart Materials, Nano- and Micro-Smart Systems Symposium RMIT Univ. Melbourne Australia 9-12 December 2008
1 of 12 Nanotechnology Scanners' for The Navigator Network run by the New Zealand Ministry of Science and Technology (MORST) (2006-2007)