J. C. Sit – Research – Personnel

The Engineered Nanomaterials Laboratory research team is composed of talented, hard-working people. We are a fun-loving, close-knit group. Interested in joining the team? Please see our recruitment page.

Current team members

(September 2016 – present)Ms. Breanna D. Cherkawski, provisional Ph.D. candidate
Breanna completed her B.Sc. in Materials Engineering from U of A in April 2016 and joined our group in the fall. Her research project will initially study the use of magnetomotive MEMS/NEMS devices as sensors.

Past graduate students

(July 2015 – August 2017)Mr. Abeed (Al) Lalany, Ph.D. graduate
- Co-supervised by M. J. Brett
- Thesis title — Nanostructured indium-tin-oxide electrodes for organicphotovoltaics
- Present position —
(May 2014 – April 2017)Mr. Henry A. Brausen, M.Sc. graduate
- Thesis title — A platform for nanomaterial-enhanced gas sensing using magnetomotive MEMS
- Awards —
- Present position — Eleven Engineering (Edmonton, Canada)
(July 2015 – December 2015)Mr. Ryan Shewchuk, M.Sc. graduate
- Co-supervised by M. J. Brett
- Thesis title — Increasing organic photovoltaic device efficiency through microstructuring techniques
- Award — C.R. James M.Sc. award (best Master’s thesis in department, Spring 2016)
- Present position — Product Engineer, Micralyne, Inc. (Edmonton, Canada)
Since completing his master’s program, Ryan has worked at Micralyne. In his first year there, he was the main sustaining engineer in the deep etch module, developing new recipes for new product lines and supporting developed product lines. Ryan now works as a product engineer where he handles the transfer to manufacturing of product lines that have finished the prototyping stage.
(September 2011 – August 2013)Ms. Jocelyn N. Bachman (Westwood), M.Sc. graduate
- Thesis title — High surface area nanoelectromechanical systems via the integration of glancing angle deposition thin films
- Present position — After completing her M.Sc., Jocelyn has been pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Physics here at the University of Alberta, and is on the home stretch of her program.
(August 2010 – June 2013)Mr. Graham A. Hunt, M.Sc. graduate
- Thesis title — Effects of in situ temperature control on the nanostructure of glancing angle deposition thin films
- Present position — Field Engineer, Canonbie (Edmonton, Canada)
Since completing the M.Sc. program, Graham has been with Canonbie (An Aecon Company), and is currently a Field Engineer involved in project management.
(May 2007 – March 2013)Mr. Jonathan K. Kwan, Ph.D. graduate
- Thesis title — Engineered nanostructured thin films for enhanced surface acoustic wave sensors
- Awards —
- Present position —
(September 2005 – May 2011)Mr. Nicholas G. Wakefield, Ph.D. graduate
- Thesis title — Fundamentals of film growth by glancing angle deposition for inorganic and inorganic/liquid crystal hybrid optical systems
- Present position — After completion of his doctoral program, Nick worked as an R&D Engineer at Micralyne, Inc. Since 2016, he is now with Knowles Electronics (US).
(September 2007 – November 2009)Mr. Martin R. Kupsta, M.Sc. graduate
- Thesis title — Advanced methods for GLAD thin films
- Present position —
(May 2002 – December 2008)Mr. Andy C. van Popta, Ph.D. graduate
- Co-supervised by M. J. Brett
- Thesis title — Thin film materials and devices fabricated by glancing angle deposition
- Present position — Product Manager, Micralyne, Inc. (Edmonton, Canada)
After completing his Ph.D., Andy has worked at Micralyne. in various engineering roles.
(September 2002 – December 2007)Mr. James Gospodyn, Ph.D. graduate
- Thesis title — Optical characterization of thin films produced by glancing angle deposition using spectroscopic ellipsometry
- Present position — Chair – Nanotechnology Systems, School of Applied Sciences and Technology, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT; Edmonton, Canada)
James has been with Northern Alberta Institute of Technology since he completed his Ph.D. program. He has served in various roles starting as Instructor in the Instrumentation program and is presently leading the Nanotechnology Systems program.
(May 2003 – December 2005)Ms. Shufen Tsoi, M.Sc. graduate
- Thesis title — Chemical tunability of glancing angle deposition thin films
- Present position — Engineer at ASML (Netherlands)
Shufen went on to complete her Ph.D. in the Polymer Technology group, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), and now works at ASML (Netherlands), a company that is developing next-generation lithography technology and equipment.

Other research team alumni

(May – August 2016)Mr. Jesse Y. Frohlich, undergraduate summer research student
(May – August 2015) Mr. Michael Bardwell, undergraduate summer research student
(May – August 2011)Ms. L. Gem Shoute, undergraduate summer research student
(May 2010 – April 2011)Mr. Peter von Hauff, undergraduate research student
(September 2008 – April 2009)Ms. Valantina Amalraj, Engineering Physics research project student
(September 2008 – April 2009)Mr. Justin Kautz, Engineering Physics research project student
(May – August 2008)Mr. Justin Kautz, undergradate summer research student
(May – August 2008)Mr. Andrew Burke, undergradate summer research student (co-supervisor A. M. Knight)
(May – August 2007)Mr. Robert Joseph, undergraduate summer research student
(September 2006 – April 2007)Mr. Jonathan K. Kwan, Engineering Physics research project student
(May – August 2006)Ms. Rebecca B. Hansen, undergraduate summer research student
(September 2005 – April 2006)Ms. Rebecca B. Hansen, Engineering Physics research project student (co-supervisor J. Veinot)
(May – August 2005)Mr. Nicholas G. Wakefield, undergraduate summer research student
(May – August 2005)Ms. Rebecca B. Hansen, undergraduate summer research student
(May – August 2004)Mr. Tze Luck Chia, undergraduate summer research student
Present position: Medical student, Queen’s University
(May – August 2003)Mr. Tze Luck Chia, undergraduate summer research student
(May – August 2002)Ms. Shufen Tsoi, undergraduate summer research student