Meet the NSW Group Chairs
September 2021
Rama Nimmagadda
Chair of Consultants and Contractors
Consultants and Contractors group is a diverse group of consultants and contractors. Our group consists of experts ranging from laboratory directors, small business owners, quality management experts, and technical consultants.
Dr Rama Nimmagadda, is the current chair of this group. Rama has over 20 years of extensive experience in analytical method development in the fields of food, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, clinical, agrochemicals, and environmental science.
Rama completed his PhD in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University. After years of experience in analytical method development as a Technical Manager in NATA accredited laboratories, Rama started an independent analytical consultation laboratory, ANALYTICAL RnD, with an aim to provide custom solutions to analytical problems in disciplines of both chemistry and life sciences. The vison of the organisation is to provide advanced analytical research solutions in the field of analytical chemistry using advanced chromatography and mass spectrometry instrumentation.
Lachlan Yee
Chair of Northern Rivers Group
Dr Lachlan H Yee BSc (Hons) Industrial Chemistry (UNSW), PhD Polymer Chemistry (UNSW) is a senior lecturer of chemistry and plastics in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Southern Cross University. The focus of his research utilises the sustainable technology of polymer science and applies this to the challenges of the soil and aquatic/marine environments with emphasis on reducing waste and remediating pollution. He loves teaching chemistry and waste as a resource.
However, historically Lachlan began his career as a postdoctoral fellow in two Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), namely CRC for Polymers (2001-2003) and the Environmental Biotechnology CRC (2004-2010). Here he focussed on projects that directed his career away from the fundamental kinetics and thermodynamics explored in his PhD through to the world of applied polymer science including his best performing publication to date, in Nature Chemistry, on to his current love of applied polymer science for environmental improvement and well being.
Dr Yee is a chartered chemist and the chair of the Northern Rivers group of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, which is a valuable Australian resource for learning chemistry both in Australia and internationally. Along with his team consisting of Tony Tyler and Graham Lancaster he enjoys promoting the RACI through his leadership of the regional NSW titration competition in Lismore and the Youth Nyholm lecture to the Northern Rivers region where dozens of students from various high schools visit the Southern Cross University campus each year to experience chemistry and a glimpse into tertiary education and what it could offer them in a future involving science, engineering and chemistry.