Professor Christopher Berndt
Surface Science and Interface Engineering
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
School of Engineering
Industrial Research Institute Swinburne
Tel: +61 3 9214 8706
Office: ATC818
Email: cberndt@swin.edu.au
Biography
Chris Berndt hails from Adelaide in South Australia yet very early on in his career as a
trainee metallurgist spent 4 years working in a small country town in the area of iron
smelting and steel making. His first degree in 1977 was a Bachelor of Applied Science in
Secondary Metallurgy, Hons from what is now called the University of South Australia.
This was followed by 3.5 years in the Materials Engineering Department of Monash
University (Melbourne, Australia) to earn a Ph.D. in the area of "The Adhesion of Flame
and Plasma Sprayed Coatings". Berndt took on several Post Doctoral Fellowships in the
USA before returning to an academic appointment at Monash University. This included a 2
year stint from 1983-85 at NASA-Lewis Research Center in Cleveland (OH-USA) as a
Fellow of the Institute for Aerospace Propulsion and Power where he worked on thermal
barrier coatings.
He rose to the rank of Senior Lecturer in Materials Engineering before being invited to
apply for a position at Stony Brook University. He was granted a tenured Associate
Professor position in 1994 and was promoted to Full Professor with tenure in 1995. He was
appointed an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Orthopedics in 1996. Berndt was the
Undergraduate Program Director for the Engineering Science program from 1995 to 2004
and the Deputy Chairman of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering since
1995. He was appointed the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in 2001. He is also
qualified as an ABET visitor for materials and engineering science programs. Berndt
remains as an Adjunct Professor at Stony Brook University.
In early 2005 Berndt moved back to Australia as the founding Professor of Surface and
Interface Engineering, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. He moved to
Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Victoria) in early 2008 as the founding
Professor of Surface Science and Interface Engineering.
Berndt's professional responsibilities gravitate around the Thermal Spray Society of the
ASM of which he has been a member since 1991. He was appointed as the Vice President
of this society in 2000 and President in 2002. He was the Proceedings Editor for the
Thermal Spray Conferences held in the USA from 1992-2003. He is the Founding Editor,
and now Editor Emeritus, for the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology (first issued in
1992) which is published by ASM International. He was a member of the ASM Action in
Education Team from 2000-2004. He was appointed a Trustee (the Board of Directors) of
the American Society of Materials for the 2005-2008 period.
Berndt is a Member of some 13 professional Societies in the materials, mechanical,
manufacturing and biomedical fields. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institution of
Engineers, Fellow of ASM International, and Fellow of The Institution of Metallurgists
(UK). He is also a Chartered Engineer (UK), a Professional Engineer (Australia), and a
Member of the College of Bioengineers (Australia). Berndt has held positions as a Faculty
Fellow of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Guest Scientist of Brookhaven National
Laboratory. He was inducted into the Thermal Spray Hall of Fame in 2007.
BERNDT has more than 480 publications in the field of Materials Science and
Engineering. He is the Editor / Co-editor of 10 conference proceedings on thermal spray.
Further information can be found by performing a google search on “berndt thermal”.
He moved to Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Victoria) in early 2008 as
the founding Professor of Surface Science and Interface Engineering. He is a Member of
Industrial Research Institute Swinburne (IRIS).
Education and Experience
2007-present: Professor of Surface Science and Interface Engineering at Swinburne
University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. (Includes various administrative
appointments).
2005-2007: Research Leader, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia.
2000-2005: Associate Dean in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony
Brook University, NY-USA.
1996 – 2005: .Adjunct Professor, Department of Orthopaedics at Stony Brook University,
NY-USA.
1995-2003: Undergraduate Program Director, Stony Brook University, NY-USA.
to 2005: Associate Prof., then Prof. in Materials Science & Eng, Stony Brook University,
NY-USA.
to 1990: Lecturer then Senior Lecturer in Materials Engineering at Monash University.
to 1986: Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow at Monash University.
to 1985: Fellow of the Institute of Propulsion and Power at NASA - Lewis Research
Center.
to 1983: Post-Doctoral Fellow at SUNY at Stony Brook.
1981: Ph.D. in Materials Engineering (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia).
Thesis topic: “The Adhesion of Flame and Plasma Sprayed Deposits” (
PDF, 11.9MB).
1977: B.App.Sci. in Secondary Metallurgy, Hons. (South Australian Inst. of Technology).
Professional Highlights
Supervised and advised 13 Ph.D. and 3 M.Sc. students in Australia and 10 Ph.D and 6
M.Sc. students in the USA
President of ASM International (2011-2012)
President of the Thermal Spray Society (2002-2004)
President of the Australian Ceramic Society (2008-2010)
Inducted into the Thermal Spray Hall of Fame (2007)
Founding Editor for the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology (first issued in 1992)
Proceedings Editor for 10 International Thermal Spray Conferences
Fellow of the Australian Institution of Engineers (Australia)
Fellow of the ASM International (USA)
Fellow of the the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (UK)
Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (USA)
Fellow of the Australian Ceramic Society (Australia)
Fellow of Alpha Sigma Mu, The Materials Engineering Honor Society
Eminent Engineer of Tau Beta Pi, The Engineering Honor Society
Order of the Engineer (USA)
Faculty Fellow of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Guest Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chartered Engineer (UK)
Chartered Professional Engineer (Australia)
Research Interests
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Biomaterials
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Infrastructure
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In excess of 480 publications. Berndt has a ‘h-index’ of 43 (according to Harzing’s
PoP software) and more than 6,300 citations to his work.
Publications Include
Chris BERNDT has over 400 publications in the thermal spray and deposit characterization
fields. He is the Editor/ Co-editor of 9 conference proceedings on thermal spray and 1 on
nanomaterials.