Curriculum Vitae for WP Gates
Proprietor SmecTech Research Consulting
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Education
University of Illinois, Ph.D., 1994 Soil Physical Chemistry &
Clay Mineralogy
New Mexico State University, M.S., 1987 Soil Chemistry & Fertility
Montana State University, B.S., 1985 Soil Science
Professional Experience
March 2006 – present: SmecTech Research Consulting. Sole proprietary R&D consulting business serving the bentonite, geosynthetic clay liner and environmental industries. Clients include ELCO Solutions and Geofabrics Australasia.
August 2006 - present: Research fellow, Geomechanics Group, Civil Engineering, Monash University. Duties: Advising and assisting PhD students and post graduates with research projects. Collaboration with other Monash researchers in geotechnical and green chemistry research projects.
January 2005 – present: Affiliate, Centre for Green Chemistry, Monash University. Duties: Advising and assisting honours and PhD students with research projects. Collaboration with Centre and Monash researchers to develop research projects in colloidal green chemistry and industrial clay minerals. Projects include: acid activated clay catalysts; organo clay adsorbants.
May 2004 – November 2005: Senior Research Scientist, Primary Industries Research Victoria, Rutherglen Victoria. Duties: NE Victoria section leader of soil chemistry subplatform. Lead Synchrotron Science Support Team to promote and coordinate synchrotron-based research and develop synchrotron science literacy within PIRVic. Manage field-based research projects, including nitrous oxide emission measurements from dryland wheat and monitor fertilizer efficiency in vineyeards. Assist in developing research strategies for PIRVic. Collaborate with PIRVic and other scientists in research to minimize the environmental footprint of agriculture.
July 2000 – March 2004: Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Land and Water, Adelaide South Australia. Duties: Led research on organo-clay based permeable reactive barriers and other research on applications of organo-clays. Advised divisional personnel on various synchrotron research projects. Conducted numerous consultancies for industry (used cooking oil regeneration, forensics). Represented CLW division in CSIRO nanotechnology initiative. Assisted preparation of CSIRO initiative for involvement in the Australian synchrotron. Collaborated with divisional personnel to improve tropical soil fertility with clay-based waste materials.
December 1997 – June 2000: Research Scientist, CSIRO Land and Water, Adelaide South Australia. Duties: Led research on smectite structural chemistry. Collaborated with other divisions on industrial project to develop water-based drilling muds. Developed clay-based adsorbant for algal toxins (patented). Collaborated with divisional personnel on projects to remove P from surface waters to minimize algal growth. Ensured the operation safety (protocols, training, interlocks) of the research X-ray powder and single crystal diffractometers.
February 1995 – October 1997: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina. Duties: Developed research apparatus to study the interlayer structures of organo-modified clays. Developed synchrotron-based research (XANES, XRF) protocols to study environmental samples at the NSLS; applied Fe Ka XANES spectroscopy to follow redox reactions at clay mineral surfaces.
July 1994 – January 1995: Chateaubriand Research Fellow, Geochemistry Group, Univeristy of Grenoble, Grenoble, France. Duties: Assisted in the development of synchrotron-based research (polarized EXAFS) protocols to study the structural chemistry of nontronites.
Australian Clay Minerals Society- (ACMS)
President, 2004 – 2006; Secretary 2002 – 2004; Committee member, 1998-2000; Information officer, 1998-2000; ACMS 2000 workshop co-chair; Editor of The Interlayer (ACMS newsletter), 1998-2002.
Clay Minerals Society- (CMS)
Associate Editor, 2005–2008; Council member, 2002-2005; Policy and Administration Committee, 2003 – 2006; Source Clays Repository Committee, 2000 – 2003; East European Liaison Committee, 1997-1998.
Australian Soil Science Society, Incorporated- (ASSSI)
SA-branch council member, 1998-2001; SA-branch newsletter editor, 1998-1999.
International Association for the Study of Clays- (AIPEA)
International Union of Soil Science- (IUSS)
Mineralogical Society of America- (MSA)
Soil Science Society of America- (SSSA)
Author of Chapter “X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy”- Handbook of Clay Science, edited by F. Bergaya, B.K.G. Theng, G. Lagaly. Elsevier Science Publishing, 550p. Chapter 12.3
Co-author of Chapter “Clays and Clay Minerals for Pollution Control” - Handbook of Clay Science, edited by F. Bergaya, B.K.G. Theng, G. Lagaly, Elsevier Science Publishing, 550p. Chapter 11.1.
Speaker- 2005. Synchrotron Applications Workshop, Australian Microbeam Analysis Symposium, Melbourne, February, 2005.
Co-author of research paper- 2005. International Conference of the National Committees on Climate Change, The Netherlands, July 2005.
Speaker- DPI Grains Team. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Grains Production. Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, December, 2004.
Speaker- Clays-GEMME Workshop on Clay Mineralogy and Geophysics for Environmental Management and Mineral Exploration. Adelaide, South Australia, September, 2004.
Speaker- “Soil Acidity – An Invisible Problem”, Goulburn-Broken and North East Catchment Management Areas, Victoria. August and September 2004.
Keynote speaker/participant- Bouyoucos Conference on Electron Transfer and Biogeochemistry at the Clay-Water Interface, San Antonio, Texas, January 2004. SSSA-sponsored conference.
Lecturer and author of chapter “Infrared Spectroscopy and the Chemistry of Dioctahedral Smectites”- Clay Minerals Society Workshop Lectures. Vol. 9, Vibrational Spectroscopy in Clay Sciences, organized and edited by T. Kloprogge, Athens, Georgia, June 2003.
Speaker- Geological Field Club of South Australia, May 2003.
Participant- ATSE–CSIRO Workshop on Nanostructure Control of Materials. Noosa, Queensland, September 2002.
Discussion leader- CSIRO Nanotechnology Nanoworkshop “Future Science, Application and Needs for Nanotechnology in CSIRO and Australia”, Clayton, Victoria, December 2001.
Speaker- Royal Society of South Australia, November 2001.
Chair/participant- Symposium on Redox Processes in Clays, 37th Annual (Wy-2-K+) Meeting of The Clay Minerals Society, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, June 2000.
Organiser- Techniques Workshop, 17th Biennial Meeting of the Australian Clay Minerals Society, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, April 2000.
Keynote speaker/participant- Bouyoucos Conference on Environmental Chemistry at the Clay-Water Interface, Honolulu, Hawaii, March 2000. Invited. SSSA-sponsored conference.
Speaker/participant- EuroClay 1999, post-meeting workshop on Clays in the Environment, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia, September 1999.
Speaker- Ian Wark Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, October 1998.
Speaker- University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, October 1998.
Speaker/participant- 16th International Congress of Soil Science, Symposium 4 “Influence of clay minerals and associated compounds of soil physical properties”, Montepellier, France, August 1998.
Speaker/participant- 6th Industriemineralsymposium, Neubrandenburg, Germany, March 1997.
Speaker/participant- Environmental Sciences, EXAFS IX, 9th International Conference on X-ray Absorption Fine Structure, Grenoble, France, August 1996.
Speaker/participant- 14th Conference on Clay Mineralogy and Petrology, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia, September 1996.
Recipient of the Green Chemistry Challenge Award – Royal Australian Chemical Institute – as a member of CSIRO team (1999-2001) that developed ‘green drilling muds’ for the petroleum industry, October, 2005.
Recipient of Department of Energy (U.S.) Travel Grant- Visiting Scientist, August-September 1996. For further study with the Geochemistry Group, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France.
Recipient of "Bourse Chateaubriand" Fellowship- French Government, July 1994 – January 1995. For study with the Geochemistry Group, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France.
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