Rate My Professor Chris Pakes

Professor Chris Pakes serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research and Innovation) and Professor of Physics at La Trobe University. He earned his BSc and PhD in Physics from the University of Birmingham, UK, completing his doctorate in 1999. After his PhD, he held research positions at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK and at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Quantum Computer Technology. Upon joining La Trobe University, he advanced through several senior roles, including Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate and Global Research), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability), Dean of Graduate Research, Head of the Department of Physics, and inaugural Director of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. In these capacities, he has overseen research strategy, graduate programs, and interdisciplinary initiatives across the university.

Professor Pakes leads a research group within the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, specializing in quantum materials for electronics, spintronics, and biosensing. His work centers on atomic-scale surface modification of materials like diamond, graphene, and silicon to engineer functional interfaces. Key research areas include spintronics in two-dimensional surface-conducting diamond, where hydrogen termination induces a high-mobility hole accumulation layer exhibiting strong spin-orbit interactions, and the development of heterostructured materials such as silicon-diamond for quantum sensing and information processing. Notable publications include 'Evidence for Primal sp2 Defects at the Diamond Surface: Candidates for Electron Trapping and Noise Sources' (2019), 'A graphene field-effect transistor as a molecule-specific probe of DNA nucleobases' (2015), 'Effect of the nanodiamond host on a nitrogen-vacancy color-centre emission state' (2013), 'Nitrogen Terminated Diamond' (2015), and 'Work function and electron affinity of the fluorine-terminated (100) diamond surface' (2013). His research involves advanced facilities like ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy and collaborations with international partners including the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Australian Synchrotron.