Jason Tam | MSE 1T2+PEY, MSE PhD 1T8
Assistant Professor, University of Alberta
Jason Tam is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. His research expertise is in physical metallurgy —advancing the fundamental understanding of interfaces such as grain boundaries, interphase interfaces, free surfaces of materials, and developing advanced synthesis process to engineer interfacial characteristics for tailored material properties and performance, with applications in sustainability and green energy.
He earned his B.A.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. His doctoral research focused on designing mechanically robust water-repellent surfaces capable of withstanding abrasive wear. During his Ph.D., Dr. Tam served as a student leader in the annual University of Toronto – The University of Tokyo (UT2) Graduate Student Workshop, fostering networking, research collaborations and cultural exchange between the two materials department in Toronto and Tokyo. These experiences paved the way for his forthcoming research opportunities in Japan.
Dr. Tam was awarded the Mitacs – Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Summer Program fellowship during his Ph.D. studies, conducting fundamental research on the wettability of rare earth oxide ceramics in Hokkaido University. In recognition for his outstanding international collaborative research, he received the Mitacs Award for Outstanding Innovation – International in 2019.
Following his Ph.D., Dr. Tam continued his academic research at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Professor Uwe Erb and Professor Jane Howe as a post-doctoral researcher. In collaboration with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, he investigated additively manufactured corrosion-barrier coating materials for used nuclear fuel containers. Concurrently, as a research scientist at the Open Centre for the Characterization of Advanced Materials (OCCAM), he supported electron microscopy research and trained users in both theoretical and practical aspects of electron microscopy. Dr. Tam also taught undergraduate courses: MSE219H1 Structure and Characterization of Materials and MSE218H1 Phase Transformations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed laboratory demonstration videos for these courses, which are now used as training materials for new teaching assistants.
Before joining the University of Alberta, Dr. Tam was awarded the prestigious JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship and carried out fundamental grain boundary research using atomic resolution scanning transmisson electron microscopy at The University of Tokyo.