Nicola Gaston
Nicola Gaston is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland and Co-Director of the MacDiarmid Institute, New Zealand. She was previously a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington and has been a Principal Investigator at the MacDiarmid Institute since 2010. Her research interests include understanding how and why the properties of clusters of atoms, such as their melting points, depend on size and electronic structure. For example, adding an extra atom of gallium to a cluster can change its melting point by 100 Kelvins.
She was awarded the CMMSE prize in 2016 for important contributions in the developments of Numerical Methods for Physics, Chemistry, Engineering and Economics.
Gaston has been a strong advocate for women in science, arguing that science is sexist in national media. She explores the role of women scientists in her blog, "Why Science is Sexist". In 2015 she published a book of the same name with Bridget Williams Books. She is also a contributor to the National Business Review.
As President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists she publicly criticised the adoption of the National Science Challenges, due to the possible conflicting roles of the Prime Minister's Science Advisor and the marginalisation of Māori. She has however praised the stability of funding provided for the National Science Challenges as well as the development of the National Statement of Science Investment in mitigating some of the concerns surrounding the adoption of the National Science Challenges.
