Dr. Breda Kiernan
Dr. Kiernan was awarded a degree in Chemistry with Pharmaceutical and Forensic Science (BSc., 2001), a Masters in Analytical Chemistry (MPhil., 2002), and a doctorate in Analytical Chemistry (PhD., 2006) from the University of Bradford, UK. Her postgraduate work was supervised by Prof. Howell G. M. Edwards, resident Professor of Molecular Spectroscopy at the University of Bradford. Prof. Edwards is currently Director of the Astrobiology and Extremophiles Research Centre at the same institution.
Dr. Kiernan’s postgraduate research was industry sponsored. Her masters research was part of a collaboration with The Purolite Company and The University of Huddersfield and focused on the characterisation of sulfonated polystyrene beads using vibrational spectroscopy. Her doctoral work, sponsored by Regenesys Technologies Ltd., explored vibrational spectroscopies for the investigation of polysulfide solution speciation in an electrolyte used in a novel energy storage device. During her PhD. she worked as a part-time lecturer in the Applied Sciences Department of Bradford College (2004-2005).
Since graduating, Dr. Kiernan has worked as a postdoctoral researcher for Prof. Dermot Diamond in the Adaptive Sensors Group at Dublin City University. Her area of research is environmental monitoring, particularly air quality monitoring. She is part of a multidisciplinary team working to develop, manufacture and deploy autonomous devices for monitoring gas emissions in the environment. Her projects – Smart Landfill and Smart Plant are sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland. This work has been presented at a number of international conferences throughout Europe and North America.
5 Key Publications:
1. “Determination of carbon dioxide gas concentration using infrared gas sensors and neural networks with Bayesian regularization” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2009.
2. “Raman spectroscopic study of hydrogen bonding in benzenesulfonic acid/acrylonitrile solutions” Spectrochimica Acta part A: Molecular & Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2005.
3. “Hydrogen bonding in benzenesulfonic and 4-toluenesulfonic acids dissolved in N,N’-dimethylformamide : an FT-Raman study” Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 2004.
4. “Raman spectroscopy of benzenesulfonic and 4-toluenesulfonic acids dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide”Spectrochimica Acta part A: Molecular&Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2004.
5. “The nature of internal acid solution in sulfonated poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) resins” Catalysis Letters 2003.