Dr Anthony Centeno

I joined Glasgow in April 2020 and am a member of the Glasgow College FIFO team that delivers teaching on the joint Electronic and Electrical Engineering programme with UESTC in China. My research and development experience now spans more than 30 years in industry, government labs and universities. During that period I have worked across the electromagnetic spectrum, from DC to the Ultra-violet, but the core themes have been applied electromagnetism and computational electromagnetics. While I am an Electrical and Electronic Engineer my current research is in collaboration with Material Scientists at Imperial College London and we are working on using functional nanomaterials for light management. The applications are in solar energy harvesting and optical imaging, specifically in the near infra-red.

I would like to work with other engineers, chemists, and physicists on research projects that utilise plasmonic materials, nanodielectric structures and nanoparticles for biosensing and solar energy applications. I have supervised or co-supervised nine graduated PhD’s. Most have chosen to pursue careers outside academia in areas ranging from Mathematics teaching to managing a golf course, although one of my former students has chosen an academic career and is now a post-doc at Imperial College. I think as a supervisor I like the student to lead the project, since a PhD student is already a Masters graduate and I stress the importance of developing “soft” skills to my students (project management, technical writing, presentation skills, etc).

When I went to what is now part of Cardiff University (the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology then) I had non-traditional entry qualifications, having done a technician apprenticeship at British Telecom. Neither of my parents went to University and had it not been for that institution having a wider inclusion policy for entry it would have been difficult for me to have obtained such a good undergraduate education. I have been fortunate to work for institutions where EDI is important and have been able to work on exciting projects with diverse groups of people. The University of Glasgow has a clear commitment to promoting equality and diversity and I am committed to support the Universities commitment.