Dr Geoff Willmott
MA, MSci, PhD (Cambridge)
Biography
I am a New Zealander who studied at the University of Cambridge (UK), obtaining a PhD in shock physics in 2005. I returned to New Zealand the following year to a postdoctoral position with the Nano and Micro Fluidics team at Industrial Research Limited (now Callaghan Innovation) in Lower Hutt. I developed an interest in nanofluidics, and was appointed as a Principal Investigator with the MacDiarmid Institute in 2010.
I was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2012, and started as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland in October 2013.
Research | Current
Nano- and microfluidics is a field with rich potential for applications in medicine, sensing, biotechnology and industry. My research involves the application of physics to fundamental and practical problems, through both theory and experiments. I have a general interest in nanofluidic transport – the motion of liquids (and particles within them) on very small scales. More specifically, I have worked extensively on a nanofluidic technology known as tunable resistive pulse sensing. I have studied non-wetting systems involving interfacial slip, superhydrophobicity and capillary tubes. I am developing projects using new nanofluidic tools to study ‘soft’ nanomechanics, especially involving Janus particles. We have recently obtained a high-speed camera, which we will use to image the dynamic behaviour of microfluidic droplets. We have a 2017 MBIE Smart Ideas grant to study drop impacts relating to spray drying of food products.
Teaching | Current
PHYS120 Advancing Physics 1 (11am-1pm stream)
PHYS332 Fluid Mechanics
CHEM340 Advanced Analytical Chemistry (Nanotech, Microfluidics)
Science Scholars programme
Postgraduate supervision
Matheu Broom (PhD)
Ankita Gangotra (PhD)
Qaisar Latif (PhD)
Stephen Chung (Hons)
Distinctions/Honours
- Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (2012)
Areas of expertise
- Dynamic microfluidics and high-speed photography
- Tunable resistive pulse sensing and nanofluidic transport
- Wetting and capillarity in micro- and nanofluidics, including superhydrophobicity
- The dynamics of slippery particles
Committees/Professional groups/Services
Physics Postgraduate Committee
Physics Summer Student Co-ordinator
Faculty Staffing Committee
MacDiarmid Institute: Board and Science Executive as PI Rep
Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)
- Willmott, G. R. (2018). Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing: Better Size and Charge Measurements for Submicrometer Colloids. Analytical chemistry, 90 (5), 2987-2995. 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b05106
- Willmott, G., Hammerschmidt, L., Grimson, M., Riddings, K., Hendy, S., Wills, P., ... Demarais, N. (2017). "Physics at the Interface" in Auckland. AAPPS Bulletin, 27 (5), 8-14.
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Malcolm Grimson, Shaun Hendy, Frederique Vanholsbeeck, Nicholas Demarais - Gangotra, A., & Willmott, G. R. (2017). Scanning ion conductance microscopy mapping of tunable nanopore membranes. Biomicrofluidics, 11 (5).10.1063/1.4999488
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Ankita Gangotra - Bogomolny, E., Willmott, G. R., Beal, J. H. L., & Arnold, W. M. (2017). Enumeration of colloidal sub-micron particles using tunable resistive pulse sensing. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NANOTECHNOLOGY, 14 (1-6), 38-46. 10.1504/IJNT.2017.10000604
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Evgeny Bogomolny - Weatherall, E., Loho, T., Dickinson, M., Colby, A. H., Grinstaff, M. W., & Willmott, G. R. (2017). Tunable resistive pulse sensing and nanoindentation of pH-responsive expansile nanoparticles. International Journal of Nanotechnology. 10.1504/IJNT.2017.082426
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Thomas Loho - Bogomolny, E., Willmott, G. R., Beal, J. H. L., & Arnold, W. M. (2017). Enumeration of colloidal sub-micron particles using tunable resistive pulse sensing. International Journal of Nanotechnology. 10.1504/IJNT.2017.082427
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Evgeny Bogomolny - Hauer, P., Grand, J., Djorovic, A., Willmott, G. R., & Le Ru, E. C. (2016). Spot Size Engineering in Microscope-Based Laser Spectroscopy. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 120 (37), 21104-21113. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b04574
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/30481 - Weatherall, E., Hauer, P., Vogel, R., & Willmott, G. (2016). Pulse size distributions in tunable resistive pulse sensing. Analytical Chemistry, 88 (17), 8648-8656. 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b01818
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/30483
Identifiers
Contact details
Primary office location
SCIENCE CENTRE 303 - Bldg 303
38 PRINCES ST
AUCKLAND 1010
New Zealand
