Professor Ivan Cole is Director of the School of Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU). Prior to this, he was Director of the Enabling Capability Platform at RMIT University and over a period of 25 years he held a variety of positions (Chief Research Scientist, Acting and Deputy Chief) at Australia’s national labs (CSIRO).

Ivan’s work integrates computational modelling with experimentation. The modelling work focuses on multiscale modelling to integrate molecular features and structures with properties such as electrochemical activity that manifest themselves at larger-scale domains conventionally modelled using continuum viewpoints and analysis methods. A particular focus is how to bridge this nano-gap between molecular and continuum process with an emphasis on developing computational tools that fill this space and in developing machine learning or quantitative structure-activity relationships to cross the length scale gap. A second focus of the modelling work is the integration and synthesis of data-driven process models and physics-based process models.

Research interests

• Corrosion modelling
• Sensing and development of new inhibitors
• Rapid experimentation
• Multi-scale modelling
• Integration of AI into materials discovery
• Nano-scale catalytic materials