School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering

Dr. Xianghai An received his PhD from Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Sciences, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. After receiving his PhD degree, he commenced with the School of Aerospace, Mechatronic and Mechanical Engineering (AMME) at The University of Sydney (USYD) as a research fellow, qualifying as a DVCR Research Fellow (Sydney Society of Fellows, 2014-2016), a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow supported by Australia Research Council (ARC) (2017-2019). Dr An is currently a Senior Lecturer and Robinson Fellow (one of first recipients of the Robinson Fellowships - named after Sir Robert Robinson, who was the first Nobel Prize winner from the University of Sydney.) He was also conferred to the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship by Humboldt Foundation in Germany in 2016.

Education

· Ph.D, University of Sydney, 2005. “Long Range Imaging Radar for Autonomous Navigation”.

· M.Sc (Elec Eng), University of the Witwatersrand, 1983, “Design of the Tracking Complex for a Tracking Radar System”.

· B.Sc (Elec Eng), University of the Witwatersrand, 1979.

Employment History

21 years: Academic, research and teaching (University of Sydney).

10 years: Military millimetre wave systems (AMS).

2 years: Commercial millimetre wave radar development (AMS).

2 years: Electronic warfare simulation (ESD).

4 years: Tracking radar systems (ESD).

18 months: R&D labs SAAF (National Service).

B.Eng (Aerospace) Hons, PhD (Robotics) USyd, Grad. Cert (Higher Education), FHEA

Dr. Mitch Bryson is currently the director for student life and a lecturer in the school of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. He is a research expert in aerial and marine robotic navigation, mapping and sensor fusion, working in applications in marine science and forestry using computer vision, hyperspectral imaging and laser scanning. He leads the ACFR Forestry research group that performs research into new technologies and techniques for measuring and managing forest resources using state-of-the-art sensors, autonomous systems and intelligent processing algorithms.

B.Met.Eng. 1998, UNSW; PhD, 2002, UNSW

Professor Julie Cairney studied Materials Science and Engineering at UNSW under a scholarship from Pasminco Limited (a former mining company based in Broken Hill). In 2002, she was awarded a PhD (Physical Metallurgy) also from UNSW. The next few years were spent working as a researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK and the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany, before returning to Australia.

She is currently working as a Professor in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research – Enterprise and Engagement). A highly influential figure in the Australian research sector, she serves on the boards of Cicada Innovations, Uniseed, and Kinoxis Therapeutics and CAD Frontiers. She was previously on the ARC College of Experts and the New Zealand Marsden Fund. Professor Cairney has also worked as the Director of the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis and the CEO of Microscopy Australia, a national facility that is supported by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.

BSc Tsinghua China 1999

ME Tsinghua China 2002

PhD Kaiserslautern Germany 2005

Materials engineer and microscopist focused on critical minerals (rare earth and tungsten), materials processing, and sustainable manufacturing. Leveraging metallurgical processing (e.g., metal additive manufacturing), advanced microscopy (e.g., three-dimensional atom probe tomography), and computational modelling (e.g., micromagnetic simulations), I systematically elucidate and exploit the coupled “processing–microstructure–property” relationships to advance magnetic and structural materials, next-generation electric machines, and additive-manufacturing applications. I have published 48 peer-reviewed papers (11 as first author), 1 white paper and 1 case study, with an h-index of 21 and 1,846 total citations (Google Scholar, 27 June 2026) and have secured over A$ 1.1 million in competitive research funding. In teaching and training, I have co-supervised or jointly mentored 8 students and lectured in or tutored 4 courses. My technical expertise spans advanced microstructural characterisation, additive manufacturing, materials design, computational simulation, and property testing. My research interests centre on critical-mineral-based materials processing, next-generation electric-machine design, and data-driven materials modelling, with a strong commitment to translating fundamental research into scalable and sustainable engineering solutions.

QUALIFICATIONS

BE(Mech), BE(Nav Arch), PhD (Sydney), Grad Cert Higher Ed.

POSITIONS

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Director, Australian Rocket Systems Training Network (ARSTN)

Director, ARC Training Centre for High-Speed Propulsion, Rocket and Launch Systems (HiPR-LS)

HONOURS

2025 Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence - Sydney Leaders category

Fellow of the Combustion Institute

Dr Cui is interested in the microscopy and microanalysis of a range of materials through computational simulations and state-of-the-art first-principles calculations.

Dr Donald Dansereau is a senior lecturer in the school of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, and the Perception Theme Lead for the Sydney Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems. His work explores how new imaging devices can help robots see and do, encompassing the design, fabrication, and deployment of new imaging technologies. In 2004 he completed an MSc at the University Calgary, receiving the Governor General's Gold Medal for his pioneering work in light field processing. In 2014 he completed a PhD on underwater robotic vision at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, followed by postdoctoral appointments at QUT and Stanford University. Donald's industry experience includes physics engines for video games, computer vision for microchip packaging, and chip design for automated electronics testing.

Follow Don on his personal site http://roboticimaging.org.

Dr. Sydney Dolan joined the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at The University of Sydney as a lecturer in June 2026.  They are also part of the Australian Centre for Robotics (ACFR).

Sydney received their PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2025. During their time at MIT, Sydney was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and GEM Fellow.  Dr. Dolan’s research sits at the intersection of aerospace, multi-agent systems, and computer science. She studies perception and planning problems related to autonomous space systems. Her prior work has investigated multi-agent reinforcement learning and graph theory for multi-satellite coordination, and event-based sensors for attitude determination and astronomy. Sydney welcomes opportunities to collaborate with researchers, students, and industry partners on problems related to autonomous space systems, multi-agent autonomy, and AI for aerospace applications.

Dr. Dolan is passionate about improving equity and outcomes for marginalized communities in STEM. They previously served as MIT's President of Graduate Women in Engineering and are a current organizer for Queer in Robotics. Sydney enjoys mentoring students from diverse backgrounds and supporting the next generation of researchers.

Hugh Durrant-Whyte is a Professor, ARC Federation Fellow and Director of the Centre for Translational Data Science at the University of Sydney. From 2010-2014, he was CEO of National ICT Australia (NICTA), and from 1995-2010 Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems and of the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR). He has published over 350 research papers and founded four successful start-up companies. He has won numerous awards and prizes for his work, including being named the 2010 NSW Scientist of the Year. He is an honorary fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia (HonFIEAus), a fellow of the IEEE (FIEEE), of the Academy of Technological Sciences (FTSE), of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), and of the Royal Society of London (FRS).

I am senior lecturer with The University of Sydney, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. My research interests span from robot vision to advanced techniques for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and 3D reconstruction based on cutting-edge computational tools such as graphical models, modern optimization methods and information theory.

I received the Engineering degree in Industrial Engineering and Automation from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2000 and the Ph.D. in Information Technologies from the University of Girona, Spain, in 2005. After the PhD studies, I joined the Robotics group at the Institut de Robótica i Informàtica Industrial, Barcelona, Spain. In 2009 I have been awarded the MICINN/FULBRIGHT post-doctoral fellowship which allowed me to join the group of Prof. Frank Dellaert at College of Computing, Georgia Tech, Atlanta US. In 2010, I joined the robotic group at LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France to work in the ROSACE project founded by RTRA-STAE. Between 2012 and 2014 I was research scientist at Brno University of Technology in Czech Republic. From 2015-2018 I was research fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision at the Australian National University (ANU).

Associate Professor Ahmad Jabbarzadeh is an internationally recognized molecular rheologist (science of flow and deformation of materials) and tribologist (science of friction and lubrication) whose research mainly deals with studying the properties of complex materials by advanced computational techniques at micro and nano scales.

Associate Professor Michael Kirkpatrick graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sydney in 1996. He then worked with the international building engineering consultancy Ove Arup & Partners in Sydney and their London office. Michael returned to Australia in 1998 to study for a PhD at the University of Sydney. On completion of his PhD in 2002, he was awarded a two year Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford University and NASA Ames. In 2004 he accepted a lecturing position in the School of Engineering at the University of Tasmania. In 2006 Michael returned to the University of Sydney where he is currently an Associate Professor in Fluids, Energy and Environment in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.

Agisilaos Kourmatzis BEng (Hons), MSc, DIC, PhD, GCertEd, CPEng, MIEAust, NER

Dr. Kourmatzis graduated with a PhD in Fluid Dynamics from the University of Southampton, UK (2011) after completing Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nottingham and Imperial College London respectively. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney from 2011-2015 and was elected a Chartered Professional Engineer (CEng) with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 2014. He held an academic position at Macquarie University from 2015-2017, helping to pioneer the new mechanical engineering program there, prior to re-joining USyd as a Lecturer in 2017. He was a SOAR Fellow at USYD from 2018-2019, appointed to Senior Lecturer in 2021 and to Associate Professor in 2023. In 2024 he spun out ASK Scientia Pty Ltd, a university spin out commercializing optical diagnostic technology for the aerosol and pharmaceutical sector. His research is in two-phase flows (aerosols/sprays/powders), turbulence, and laser diagnostics, and is supported by both industry and government. Industry/organizations he has partnered with and/or consulted for include public organizations such as the US-FDA and Great Barrier Reef Foundation and private industry such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Proveris Scientific.

Associate Professor Nicholas Lawson joined the Aerospace Department at the University of Sydney in Australia in October 2021, after holding a Chair in Aerodynamics and Airborne Measurement at Cranfield University, in the U.K. He holds a PhD in Aerodynamics and Optics. He also continues as a Visiting Professor in Aerospace Engineering at Cranfield University.

During his last five years at Cranfield, he was Head of the National Flying Laboratory Centre (NFLC). Nicholas joined Cranfield University in 1999, after a 4-year post-Doctoral position in Fluid Mechanics, at the University of Melbourne. Before joining the University of Melbourne, between 1991 and 1995, he completed a PhD in Optics and Fluid Mechanics at Loughborough University in the U.K., sponsored by Rolls-Royce plc. His degree was in Mechanical Engineering and was also sponsored by Rolls-Royce plc.

Professor Qing Li obtained his PhD degree from the University of Sydney in 2000. He received postdoc training from Cornell University, NY, USA 2000 - 2001. He was a recipient of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Postdoctoral (APD) Research Fellowship in 2001 (55 awarded nationwide). Dr Qing Li was a senior lecturer in School of Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia from 2004 to 2006. He returned to Sydney by taking up a Sesqui senior lectureship in 2006, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and Professor in 2014. Prior to his academic appointment in Sydney, Dr Qing Li was a recipient of an Australian Academy of Science (AAS) international award to visit the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA in 2006.He was an ARC Future Fellow (2013-2017) at the University of Sydney. Professor Qing Li was the Director of Postgraduate Studies (2007-2012) and Director of Biomedical Engineering (2017-2019) in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.

Professor Qing Li’s recent research has focused on computational design and multidisciplinary optimisation of nonlinear and time-dependent multifunctional and lightweight structures and materials with applications in aerospace, automotive, mechanical, manufacturing and biomedical engineering. His research expertise covers the areas of data science, computational mechanics, structural crashworthiness, additive manufacturing, biomechanics, scaffold tissue engineering and biofabrication. Professor Li has been closely collaborating with domestic and global industry (e.g. Cochlear, Stryker, Allegra, SDI, Sirona, 360 Med Care, Optimize Ortho and Corin) through ARC, NHMRC, MRFF and other projects.

BSc Huaqiao, MSc Dalian, PhD Sydney

Professor Xiaozhou Liao received his PhD degree from the University of Sydney in 2000. He relocated to the United States taking up a Director Funded Postdoctoral Fellowship in Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2001 and was a research scientist in the University of Chicago from 2004 to 2006. He is now a professor in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, at the University of Sydney.

Dr Yingqian Liao is a Lecturer in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Sydney. Her research spans hydrodynamics, fluid–structure interaction, composite structures, and multidisciplinary design optimization, with applications to hydrofoils, floating offshore wind turbines, and marine renewable energy systems. She received her PhD in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan, where her research focused on the hydrostructural design and optimization of composite hydrofoils.

Following her PhD, Dr Liao was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan from 2021 to 2023, where she worked on control co-design methods for marine hydrokinetic turbines. From 2023 to 2025, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory), working on floating offshore wind hydrodynamics, control co-design, and marine hydrokinetic energy. During this time, she led an international collaborative study within the OC7 CFD program and worked with industry partners on applied research and funding proposals. She subsequently joined the University of Texas at Dallas as a Research Scientist, where she continued her research on the modeling and design optimization of floating vertical axis wind turbines, before joining the University of Sydney.

Ying Liu specializes in the design, fabrication, microstructure characterisation, and properties of materials, especially ferroelectric and antiferroelectric materials. She gained her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the Institute of Metal Research (IMR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2017. During her doctoral studies, she focused on designing and studying the ferroelectric domains, interfaces, and defects in ferroelectric thin films using pulsed laser deposition and advanced aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy techniques (Cs-corrected TEM). Following her PhD, Ying Liu worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Australia Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (ACMM) at the University of Sydney (USyd), and later as a PROBIST postdoctoral fellow (co-funded Marie Curie fellow), at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) in Barcelona, Spain. Enriched by her postdoctoral experience, she has broadened her research to the mechanical properties of various materials at the micro and nano-scale, as well as the relationship between the microstructure and properties of relaxor ferroelectrics and antiferroelectrics. This advancement is supported by her proficiency in in-situ straining, biasing, and heating TEM, pulsed laser deposition (PLD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning probe microscopy (SPM), and focused ion beam techniques (FIB).