MATERIALS AUSTRALIA
CMatP Profile: Dr Jeff Gates companies such as Bradken, Trelleborg and Molycop and by collaborative government funding schemes such as Innovation Connections and Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowships.
What inspired you to choose a career in materials science and engineering?
Jeff Gates is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland. From 1998 to 2019 he was Principal of UQ Materials Performance, a professional consultancy service within the University. His technical expertise covers: (1) Microstructure, properties, performance & failure of ferrous alloys and competing materials, especially for abrasion-resistant products; (2) Engineering failure investigation.
22 | DECEMBER 2023
Where do you work? Describe your job. I work in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland. Although I’ve been at UQ since my post-doctoral years, I’ve had a diversity of roles — from research & lecturing, to founding & operating a consultancy business, and now back to research. In the late 1990s I effectively changed careers (from academic to fulltime engineering consultant) without changing offices! Currently my focus is R&D projects funded by manufacturing
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Late in my first year at Monash University (1976), two of our Physics lecturers gave a presentation about a second-year subject called “Materials Science 205”. They were Bill Rachinger (1927-2023) and Paul Clark. Using benchtop demonstrations they compellingly illustrated diverse material properties, such as thermal conductivity. I and some of my classmates thought “that sounds cool” — and we were right! Virtually every day of my career, I apply some principle or piece of knowledge that I gained there in 1977.
Who or what has influenced you most professionally? Two people who have inspired me are Ian Polmear and Andrej Atrens. At Monash, Prof Polmear taught us a variety of topics within our materials courses, but two that stood out were Phase Transformations, and Micromechanics of Deformation & Fracture — topics that have informed both my research and my consultancy
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