Professor Ray Dagastine's research focuses on colloidal and interfacial phenomena as well as developing novel methods to study different aspects of particle technology using techniques including atomic force microscopy or optical microscopy. More information about his group can be found at chemical.eng.unimelb.edu.au/dagastine or about an exciting new microscopy developed from his laboratory at Tiny Bright Things.
Professor Dagastine is the Deputy Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Melbourne.
He completed his degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware and then received his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. After which, he was awarded a US National Science Foundation International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship hosted by the School of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne. Remaining in Australia, he then joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Melbourne in 2004. Since then, he has also been an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2010-14) and a senior technology fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (2011-15). Prof. Dagastine is also the academic leader of a the Materials Characterisation and Fabrication Platform.
Professor Dagastine has pioneered methods to study the surface forces between soft or deformable colloidal particles, such as drops and bubbles in emulsions and foams. This includes novel experimental methods and theoretical models to monitor the collisions between micro-drops and micro-bubbles in complex fluids. This work has redefined the conceptual models of key physical aspects in the stability, surface forces and coalescence processes between drops and bubbles in soft complex fluids, i.e. emulsions and foams. A number of researchers now uses these methods in fluid mechanics, food science and minerals processing research. In addition, Prof. Dagastine often translates these novel outcomes and methods to practice via sustained industrial collaborations including the personal care product and processed food sectors.
Professor Dagastine has a significant research focus on the diffusion of nano- and micro-particles near surfaces, having developed methods to track particle diffusion and surface forces for anisotropic particles (e.g. nano-rods, plates, disks) as well as spherical particles. One exciting outcome of this work is a new microscopy imaging modality able to measure the size and shape of objects down to the scale of a virus or carbon nanotube using a standard microscope, in-situ, without requiring labels, tagging or stains. You can find out more about this exciting new microscopy modality at Tiny Bright Things.
Professor Dagastine also has research interests in the nano-mechanical behaviour of soft colloidal particles, such as microcapsules and hydrogel particles, developing experimental methods and analysis to quantity nano-scale mechanical and materials properties of these materials, often working in collaboration with other researchers.
Find out more about Ray Dagastine's experience
Ray Dagastine's highlights
Ray Dagastine's selected work
Projects
Displaying the 31 most recent projects by Ray Dagastine.
Project Types
21
Research Grant
6
Research Contracts
4
Internal Research Grant
Scholarly Works
Displaying the 112 most recent scholarly works by Ray Dagastine.
News
Displaying the 2 most recent news articles by Ray Dagastine.
Honours, Awards and Fellowships
Certificate of Excellence for Most Engaged Research Group
ARC Future Fellowship 2010-2013
Australian Fresh Scientist
International Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2002-04)
Shell Graduate Fellow (1997-2002)
Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering (SAMPE)
Credentials
Positions
Professor
Chemical Engineering
Member
American Chemical Society, Colloids Division
Board Of Directors (2015-2017) And Member
Australasian Colloid and Interface Society
Associate Member
Institution of Chemical Engineers
Member
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Education
Doctor of Philososphy in Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with Distinction
University of Delaware