About Us
Professor Graham M. Smith
Head of Group, Magnetic Resonance theme leader, Technology theme co-leader
+44 1334 462669 School webpage listing
Prof Graham Smith received his BSc in Theoretical Physics from the University of York in 1984, MSc in Lasers and Optoelectronics in 1985, and PhD in mm-wave Physics from the University of St Andrews in 1990. He was appointed as a lecturer in 2000, and a professor in 2018, in the School of Physics and Astronomy at St Andrews. He currently heads the mm-wave and ESR group at St Andrews. He has broad interest in all aspects of mm-wave technology, with specific interests in developing advanced mm-wave electron spin resonance (ESR) instrumentation, and related application programs. He previously managed the UK High field EPR facility, and has served as Chair of the RSC EPR Group and European Federation of EPR Groups and was awarded the International EPR Society Silver Medal for Instrumentation in 2011. He was the first Director of the Magnetic Resonance Centre at St Andrews, and is a member of StAnD which is collaboration between Physics, Biology and Chemistry EPR groups from the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee.
Dr Duncan A. Robertson, Principal Research Fellow
Radar theme leader, Technology theme co-leader
+44 1334 467307 School webpage listing
Dr Duncan A. Robertson holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Physics and Electronics and a Ph.D. in millimetre wave physics from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. For most of his career he has been with the Millimetre Wave Group at the University of St Andrews working on battlefield systems, passive imaging, electron spin resonance spectroscopy instrumentation, and millimetre wave radar for remote sensing and security applications. His research interests include millimetre-wave radar, radiometry, imaging, electron spin resonance instrumentation, quasi-optics, materials characterization and antennas.
Dr Hassane El Mkami, Senior Research Fellow
+44 1334 463029 / 463062
Hassane El Mkami spent over 6 years at the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Condensed Matter at the University of Montpellier II in France where he prepared a PhD in theoretical, physical and analytical chemistry. He has also spent a year teaching Chemistry in High School in Morocco. He joined the Millimetre Wave & EPR group in 2001 as Manager of UK High Field EPR facility (90-300GHz) till 2004. Currently, he is Senior Research Fellow and applications manager conducting different research projects in collaboration with St Andrews, Dundee and Leeds universities, assisting and providing training for new users and PhD students. His main research interests are based on the use of cw and Pulse EPR Spectroscopies to investigate wide range of systems used in biology and catalysis, Site Directed Spin labelling, Metal Organic Framework, Zeolites, Mineral compounds (Leucophanite,..).
Dr Robert I. Hunter, Research Fellow
+44 1334 463156 School webpage listing
Robert I. Hunter received an M.Sci. (Hons.) in physics in 2000 and a Ph.D. in millimetre wave physics in 2004 from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Rob’s Ph.D. thesis was presented on the properties and suitability of various materials for use in the construction of non-reciprocal quasi-optical devices. Since completing his Ph.D., Rob has worked with the Millimetre Wave Group at the University of St Andrews on various projects within the fields of magnetic resonance and radar, including high profile projects on a 94 GHz DNP spectrometer based around an innovative dual centre magnet, a 94 GHz high-power pulsed EPR spectrometer known as HiPER, and a 340 GHz airport security imaging radar. Rob has also worked on commercial projects to supply copies of the HiPER spectrometer to Pacific North-western National Laboratory and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in the USA. Rob’s research interests include the design and development of instrumentation for magnetic resonance and radar applications, quasi-optics, and characterisation of materials for use in millimetre wave devices.
Dr David G. Macfarlane, Senior Research Fellow
+44 1334 461608 School webpage listing
David G. Macfarlane obtained an MSci (Hons) in Theoretical Physics from the University of St Andrews in 1999. He then joined the mm-wave group and developed a close-range rotary-scanned passive mm-wave imager at 94 GHz for his PhD, completed in 2002. Continuing as a PDRA with the group his research has concentrated on the design, development, build and deployment of a variety of millimetre wave radars including AVTIS (94 GHz radar/radiometer for monitoring of the Montserrat lava dome), SAFIRE (94 GHz real-time exhibition radar for our EPSRC public outreach programme “Vision for the Future”), CONSORTIS (a 340 GHz real time high resolution airport security radar) and, most recently, R4AsH a triple frequency (10/35/94 GHZ) project to characterise the radar properties of airborne volcanic ash. His work has also included delivering over 250 public outreach events, developing advanced radar concepts for security, field trials for helicopter landing guidance radar, real-time radar sensing and tracking of sea waves from boats.
Dr Samiur Rahman, Research Fellow
+44 1334 463155 School webpage listing
Samiur Rahman obtained an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden in 2010 and PhD degree from the University College London (UCL), UK in 2015. Since his PhD, he has been working as a Research Fellow with the Millimetre Wave Group at the University of St Andrews, UK. At St Andrews, he has worked on a project to detect and classify drones by using millimetre wave radar, and is currently involved in a joint project to use sub-THz radar for environmental sensing for future autonomous marine platforms. His research interests include radar imaging techniques, radar target classification algorithm development, radar target signature analysis, radar signature modelling and millimetre-wave radar system design.
Ms Yujie Zhao+44 1334 463156
Supervisor: Prof. Graham M. Smith
Funding: University of St Andrews + China Scholarship Council
Mr Daniel SungSupervisor: Prof. Graham M. Smith
Funding: EPSRC
Daniel Sung holds an MPhys (Hons.) in Physics from the University of St Andrews. After first completing a summer project in millimetre wave feed horn design during his undergraduate degree, Daniel joined the group for his final year project concerning DNP methodology and instrumentation for use with medical MRI. After continuing this work in a second summer project, Daniel joined the Millimetre Wave Group as a PhD student in 2020 and aims to develop a continuous flow Overhauser DNP MRI system, providing an alternative to existing methods.
Mr Aleksanteri VattulainenSupervisors: Dr Duncan A. Robertson + Dr Samiur Rahman
Funding: EPSRC
Aleksanteri (Aleks) holds an MPhys (Hons.) in Physics from the University of St Andrews (2019) and an M.S.E.C.E in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (2020). Aleks started his Ph.D. in autumn of 2020 with the Millimetre Wave Group. His Ph.D. concerns the measurement of high frequency sea clutter as part of the STREAM project, including the development of hardware and the statistical analysis of data gathered in the field. His research interests include measurements of the radar environment, antenna design, and millimetre-wave radar system design.
Mr Matthew MooreSupervisors: Dr Duncan A. Robertson + Dr Samiur Rahman
Funding: EPSRC + QinetiQ
Matt Moore holds an MPhys in Physics from Durham University. His master’s project involved tracking the position of drones to sub-millimetre precision using a GPS system combined with several inertial measurements. Matt joined the group as a PhD student in 2020. His PhD focusses on the use of millimetre wave radar for the detection, classification and tracking of drones.
Mr Mark BellSupervisors: Dr Duncan A. Robertson
Funding: Leonardo UK + University of St Andrews
Mark Bell holds an MPhys (Hons.) in Physics from the University of St Andrews. Mark first worked alongside the group during a summer project focussed on the testing and refurbishment of a cloud profiling radar. He went on to complete his final year project exploring Recurrent Neural Networks to perform drone classification using radar data gathered by the group. Mark has just joined the group as a PhD student in 2022, working on millimetre wave radar for short-range environmental monitoring in collaboration Leonardo in Edinburgh.
Mr William D. HarcourtSupervisor: Dr Duncan A. Robertson
Additional Supervisors: Dr David G. Macfarlane, Prof. Doug Benn (School of Geography & Sustainable Development), Prof. Brice Rea & Dr Matteo Spagnolo (School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen)
Funding: EPSRC + SAGES
Will Harcourt has a keen interest in developing remote sensing techniques to understand environmental change. His PhD project aims to develop millimetre-wave radar for mapping and monitoring glaciers, with a focus on generating high resolution measurements of glacier calving fronts. Previously, Will gained a BSc in Geography at the University of Exeter (2013) and an MSc in Geographical Information Science at the University of Edinburgh (2016). He has since worked on several research projects during his short academic career, ranging from satellite-based monitoring of glacier dynamics in the Arctic to mapping tropical coastal ecosystems in Africa. He is now an Interdisciplinary Fellow at the University of Aberdeen leading the development of a Greenland Ice Sheet digital twin (the GreenlandTwin project).
Mr Michael J. TaylorDr Janet Lovett’s group webpage
Condensed Matter Centre for Doctoral training webpage
Supervisors: Prof. Graham M. Smith + Dr Janet Lovett
Funding: EPSRC
Michael Taylor (2018-, PhD) received his MSci in Physics from the University of Dundee in 2018. His undergraduate research project focused on investigating a variety of semiconducting materials using electrically detected EPR (EDMR), with the goal of identifying and analysing candidates for use as standard samples in EDMR. Impressed by the strengths of EPR as a spectroscopic technique, Michael applied to study for his PhD with Professor Graham Smith and Dr Janet Lovett, supported by the doctoral training centre for condensed matter (CM-CDT). His PhD seeks to improve EPR sensitivity through the application of arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs), which could provide new insight in the analysis of biological samples.
Facilities
For information on our facilities, please consult the pages for our three research themes: Magnetic Resonance, Radar and Technology.