I hold a PhD in Chemistry (2006) and a MA in Chemistry (2003) from the University of California at San Diego/ San Diego State University (USA). I also hold a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Cyprus (Cyprus). During 2006-2011 I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cyprus carrying out research in the general field of computational chemistry with emphasis on heterogeneous catalysis. During this period apart from receiving a 3-year fellowship to carry out “experimetal and computational studies of the WGS reaction on noble metal nanoparticles” I was briefly a visiting lecturer for the undergraduate General and Physical chemistry courses.
In 2008 I founded a startup company in the field of rational materials design, CysilicoTech Research Ltd that won a price at the National Enterpreneuship competition in 2012. Between 2012-2014 I was a Research Assistant at Cardiff University (Cardiff Catalysis Institute) and a Research Fellow at The University of Warwick, looking at mechanistic aspect of the selective oxidation on gold nanoparticle catalysts.
Since 2014 I have been a Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry of University College London (UK) doing reseach for an EPSRC funded project with the title “First principles design of novel ammonia synthesis catalysts”

Research Profile

Expertise in first-principle electronic structure calculations to estimate the physical, chemical, mechanical and spectroscopic properties of molecules, clusters and materials. Participated in a broad range of projects including the elucidation of reaction mechanisms and the development of kinetic models for reactions occurring on transition and noble metal nanoclusters. Has 57 publications with an H-index of 12.

Keywords: Physical Chemistry and Computational Chemistry

Research Interest

Advances in computational chemistry coupled with the power and speed of modern computer clusters, enable scientists to study molecules, biomolecules and materials using first-principle electronic structure calculations.  The quantitative relationship between the microscopic structure of a material and how that affects the properties, lies at the center of the computer simulations I perform. In my research I use electronic structure calculations to estimate the physical, chemical, mechanical, spectroscopic and electronic properties of existing and new materials with big accuracy. In general I study mechanistic pathways for chemical reactions occurring on the surface and inside the pores of materials and built kinetic models to understand the effect thermodynamic variables (e.g. Pressure, temperature, concentration). A general advantage of this field is that each physicochemical parameter can be monitored independently and therefore betterinsight in catalysis and materials chemistry research is achieved

Currently my research focus is in two major fields:
a. Design of innovative nano-materials various applications (e.g. coatings, catalysts, and engineering materials) by tailoring and optimizing the microscopic properties and processes to ensure optimum performance
b. Mapping out the reaction potential energy diagram of heterogeneous catalytic reaction cycles