Prof. Wei Gao, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering the University of Auckland, New Zealand and Chairman of the University's Nanotechnology Centre. He is also Coordinator of the Materials Research Cluster. In addition to teaching, he conducts research in the areas of nano-materials and nano-technology, advanced coating and surface technologies, high temperature corrosion and oxidation, superconductors, electronic ceramics, photo-luminescence materials, intermetallics, rapid solidification, amorphous alloys, electron microscopy and microanalysis, computer modeling and applications in materials processing and performance.

Dr. Gao received his B.E. and M.E. in Metallic Materials from Northeastern University and Beijing Central Research Institute China, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Oxford University, UK. He spent five years as a Researcher, Principal Investigator and Technical Director of the Rapid Solidification Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently on the editorial board of a number of journals, is often invited to give keynote and invited lectures, and is a member of many professional associations including IPENZ, ACA, MRS, AMS, TMS. He is an Honorary Professor of several overseas universities. He has published more than 250 research papers, a textbook, several chapters in books and an encyclopaedia. He holds 5 US/international patents and 3 MIT Disclosures.