People
Prof. Michelle J.S. Spencer
Group Leader
Contact: michelle.spencer@rmit.edu.au
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Michelle is a Professor of Chemistry at RMIT University and leads the Computational Materials Chemistry group, developing new materials for electronic devices, sensors, catalysis and batteries. She is Deputy Director of the STEM Centre for Digital Innovation, leading the development of innovative digital technologies for education across science, technology, engineering and health.
Michelle is a former Associate Dean (Head of Department) of Applied Chemistry & Environmental Science at RMIT University, and a Centenary Fellow of the RACI. She has published over 140 refereed publications and has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT), the Australian Technology Network (ATN) Teaching & Learning Excellence Award, a Merit Award in the Community Service Markets Victorian Information Industry Association ‘iAwards’, the KPMG Acclaimed Educator Award, the Max O’Connor Chemistry Lectureship Medal, an RACI Chemistry Education Division Citation, three RMIT Vice-Chancellor Teaching Excellence Awards, and multiple student choice teaching awards.
She has led the development of three award winning mobile phone apps for teaching chemistry, that are available on the Apple and Google Play stores and have been downloaded >43,000 times around the world.
She has been awarded funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the CSIRO, the Defence Science & Technology Group, the Australian Council of Deans of Science and other industry bodies.
Current Group Members
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jiewei Zheng is currently a research assistant (postdoctoral) at RMIT University under Prof. Michelle Spencer. He completed his Ph.D. degree at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, in 2024. He completed his Master of Chemical Engineering at the South China University of Technology (SCUT), China, in 2019. His current research focuses on investigating liquid metals for catalysis using theoretical calculations.
Project: The application of liquid metals in catalysis
Contact: jiewei.zhang [at] rmit.edu.au
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Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Kevin Tran received a PhD in Applied Sciences (Chemistry) from RMIT University in 2024 and is now currently a post-doc in Michelle’s group. Kevin’s project primarily focuses on determining the piezoelectric and electromechanical properties of various nanomaterials for actuator applications. His method involves using density functional (DFT) calculations as implemented in the Vienna ab initio software (VASP) to investigate the structural and electronic properties of nanomaterials. Kevin has also collaborated with various experimentalists from the School of Engineering at RMIT University to publish results that required theoretical analysis.
Project: Discovery of novel and existing nanomaterials for piezoelectric and electromechanical actuator devices.
Contact: kevin.tran2 [at] rmit.edu.au
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PhD & Masters Students
RMIT-AcSIR joint PhD Student
Mahendiran Durairaj is a joint PhD student at RMIT University (Australia) and AcSIR (India), working under the supervision of Prof. Michelle J. S. Spencer and Dr. P. Murugan. His research focuses on using first-principles calculations to investigate low-dimensional nanostructures for energy storage and conversion applications. He has also contributed to several collaborative projects, providing theoretical insight to support and interpret experimental results.
Project: Exploring Allotropes of Silicon Carbide for Energy Storage and Conversion Applications
Contact: s3960051 [at] student.rmit.edu.au
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RMIT-AcSIR joint PhD Student
Sana Jindani is a joint PhD student at RMIT University and AcSIR, working under the supervision of Prof. Michelle Spencer and Dr Bishwajit Ganguly. She is also affiliated with CSIRO Clayton, where she works under Dr Michael Breedon. Sana was a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar at the University of California, Davis, USA, where she conducted research for nine months. In the Spencer group, she is working on exploring the influence of stereoelectronic effects on the stability and reactivity of imidazolium based ionic liquid electrolytes on lithium anode surface.
Project: The role of stereoelectronic effects on the structure and reactivity of molecules
Contact: s4000433 [at] student.rmit.edu.au
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PhD Student
Vy Thuy Nguyen is currently a PhD student at RMIT University under the supervision of Professor Michelle Spence and Dr. Michael Breedon at CSIRO. Her research focuses on the development of two-dimentional materials and their heterostructures for sensing reactive small molecules, utilizing computational modeling techniques.
Project: Reactive small molecule sensing using 2D nanomaterials
Contact: s4159332 [at] student.rmit.edu.au
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RMIT-BITS joint PhD Student
Anusree S. Chandran is a joint PhD scholar at RMIT University and BITS Pilani, working under the supervision of Prof. Michelle Spencer and Prof. Tribeni Roy. Her research focuses on the design and optimization of advanced electrolyte compositions for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries using multi-scale computational modeling techniques. She employs a combination of density functional theory (DFT) to understand fundamental interfacial interactions, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to evaluate ionic transport and structural dynamics, and machine learning (ML) methods to accelerate the discovery of promising electrolyte systems.
Project: Accelerated materials discovery of next-generation electrolytes for lithium-sulfur batteries
Contact: s4086001 [at] student.rmit.edu.au
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