Media Release
9 November 2010
IRL researcher honoured as pioneer of the nano-scale
IRL scientist Shaun Hendy has been awarded the prestigious New Zealand Association of Scientists Research Medal for his
pioneering work in the field of nanotechnology.
Dr Shaun Hendy received the honour, which acknowledges outstanding fundamental or applied research in the physical,
natural or social sciences published by a scientist aged under 40, at a ceremony in Wellington last week.
Dr Hendy has pioneered, established and continued the transformational research area of theoretical nanotechnology in
New Zealand.
His major research discoveries include identifying new solid-liquid phase behaviour induced from nano-scale collisions,
and the classification of novel recoil behaviour of nano-particles. These new phenomena are absent from both the smaller
atomic-scale, and from the larger macro-scale.
Dr Hendy has also discovered new physical laws at the nano-scale, for the drag between a liquid and a solid surface; and
obtained new results for droplet entry into nano-tubes.
His IRL responsibilities have included successful application for, and management of over NZ$20M of research contracts.
Dr Hendy is currently Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and has been
employed at IRL since 1998, where he is a Distinguished Scientist.
Dr Hendy says he shares this award with a team of talented young scientists at IRL and the MacDiarmid Institute.
“Thanks to their enthusiasm and hard work, and the unique research environment provided by the MacDiarmid Institute, our
work has had significant impact in New Zealand and overseas,” he says. “I must acknowledge the investment made by the
MacDiarmid Institute in the Blue Fern Supercomputing Centre at the University of Canterbury, which has provided high
performance computing resources for us since 2008.”
IRL CEO Shaun Coffey says Dr Hendy has demonstrated outstanding and far reaching scholarship and leadership in multiple
scientific fields. “Dr Hendy’s work at IRL has led to applications in micro and nanofluidics, and in nanotechnology, and
this award is a well deserved acknowledgement of the achievements of one of New Zealand’s finest young scientists.”
ENDS