As a facility that supports the development of new technical know-how, the training of highly qualified personal, and interacting with a wide variety of academic and industrial partners, we recognize the talents of our team and appreciate that you might want to get in touch!
In addition to our wide userbase that draws from across UBC and partner institutions, we have dedicated staff and expertise within the facility to assist in our training, facilities operations and management.
Heli Eunike
Engineering Technician, Department of Materials Engineering
Heli Eunike runs much of the ‘day to day’ in the electron microscopy lab, which includes working with our users and clients, facilitating teaching activities, and working with instrument suppliers and facilities & buildings personnel to keep things running in top performance.
Dr Ruth Birch
Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Materials Engineering
Dr Ruth Birch is a postdoctoral fellow in her 4th year at UBC developing FIB-SEM methods for advanced microstructural analysis, typically applied to high-value engineering alloys including steels for energy applications. Areas of expertise include FIB-SEM, advanced electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) methods and data analysis, and use of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS/X). A core aspect of this work is the extension of 2D methods to 3D ‘slice and view’ analytical tomography. Prior to joining UBC, Dr Birch completed her PhD at Imperial College London and developed new in situ understanding of the microstructural evolution of nuclear materials with SEM-based heating experiments.
Dr Simon Tsianikas
Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Materials Engineering
Dr Simon Tsianikas has been at UBC for two years as a postdoctoral researcher. His technical expertise centers on advanced electron microscopy, including FIB-SEM, TEM, EBSD, and EDS, with an emphasis on 3D tomography of aluminum alloys. Originally from Adelaide, Australia, Simon obtained his PhD from the University of Adelaide in high entropy alloy deformation and characterization. Prior to moving to Vancouver, he completed his first postdoc in Switzerland at EMPA in Thun, which focused on combinatorial synthesis and characterization of high entropy alloy coatings.
Dr Igor Sekachev
Project Manager, Department of Materials Engineering
Dr Igor Sekachev is working as a project manager to support expansion of the electron microscopy lab, specifically with regards to the Mat4NetZero project which has funded the TENSOR STEM, AMBER-2 FIB-SEM, MIRA SEM and NEXSA G2 XPS instruments. He has extensive experience in cryogenic vacuum systems and operations of large research facilities. He has previously worked in the QMI lab at UBC, General Fusion, TRIMUF and at ITER.
Dr Ben Britton
Professor and Academic Lead (Electron Microscopy Laboratory), Department of Materials Engineering
Dr Ben Britton is a Professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the University of British Columbia, where he leads the Experimental Micromechanics & Characterization Group, the Characterization@UBC cluster and the Electron Microscopy Laboratory. He is a specialist in advanced electron microscopy and micromechanics, with internationally recognized expertise in electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), high-resolution and 3D electron microscopy, and in situ deformation studies using electron microscopy.
Partners
In addition to our team, we also work closely and collaborate with a number of academic partners. Of note, we work closely with Dr Warren Poole who led the funding efforts for the AMBER-X Xe pFIB-SEM and supports a variety of activities within the lab.
Contact Information:
Electron Microscopy Lab,
Frank Forward Building,
6350 Stores Road,
Room 419
Vancouver, BC,
V6T 1Z4, Canada
Tel: 604-822-5648
Email: heli.eunike@ubc.ca