APT&M 2027
SPEAKERS.
Plenary
Prof. Julie Cairney
Prof. Cairney is a Professor in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney and also serves as the University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Research Enterprise. She specialises in using advanced microscopy to study the three-dimensional structure of materials at the atomic scale. Her projects cover mitigation of hydrogen embrittlement in steels, corrosion, nuclear materials and biominerals. Many of these projects are carried out in collaboration with industry. Her work is published in the top international journals, including Science and the Nature series. She has received a number of awards, including the 2026 Microanalytical Society’s President’s Medal and the 2020 Acta Materialia Silver Medal for her scientific contributions and leadership in microscopy and materials science. She is the author of over 300 publications, cited nearly 20,000 times, including a co-authored book on atom probe microscopy.
Prof. Paul Bagot
Associate Professor Paul Bagot is head of the Oxford Atom Probe group. He oversees and supports research using APT and other complementary, high-resolution techniques to understand the relationship between atomic-scale structure/composition and materials performance. His research background covers understanding Pt-group metal interactions with gaseous reactants for pollution control/chemicals production and oxidation of engineering alloys for developing more efficient, cleaner gas-turbine aerospace engines. He leads several research projects investigating structural materials for fission and fusion power, and lightweight, energy-saving aluminium alloys for automotive applications. He has a strong interest in the development of novel fields for APT, including fuel cells, solar power structures and battery devices. He actively collaborates with many UK-based and international institutions, including as a ‘Visiting Researcher for Correlative Atom Probe Tomography Development’ at the University of Glasgow.
Dr. Ann Chiaramonti Debay
Dr. Chiaramonti currently leads the Advanced Atom Probe Tomography Project for Microelectronics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, USA. Previously, she led the Extreme Ultraviolet Atom Probe Project at NIST. She specializes in materials characterization using electron- and ion-based imaging and scattering techniques, primarily transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. Dr. Chiaramonti earned degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan (B.S.E.) and Northwestern University (Ph.D.). She completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory before joining the Applied Chemicals and Materials Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2009.
Dr. Denis Fougerouse
Dr Denis Fougerouse is a geologist and a member of Curtin University’s Geoscience Atom Probe facility. Dr Fougerouse is contributing to ore deposit research particularly gold and critical minerals. Despite their occurrence in rock materials, many metals remain difficult to detect and extract. His research bridges this gap by using nanoscale analytical techniques to image atoms within minerals, revealing how valuable metals are distributed at the atomic level. He discovered that these metals are often concentrated in crystal defects rather than uniformly spread throughout minerals, a finding that has major implications for how we mine and process resources. Dr Fougerouse’ research group provides the scientific foundation needed to improve mineral recovery, reduce waste, and build a more diverse, resilient, and sustainable mining industry for the future.
