Daniel Banks, PhD, MBA
President
Strategist for Research Infrastructure
Dr. Daniel Banks is a strategic thinker behind planning and implementation of scientific initiatives, from background research and developing a vision, to engaging stakeholders with strategic communications and measuring performance and impacts. In the first year of TVB Associates, he led, or advised on, strategic initiatives by four university clients that aim to acquire a total of $100M in funding for major research infrastructure projects and operations. Of these amounts, $32M is now secured, with another $40M in requests still in progress.
For the past decade, he was worked at the centre of strategic initiatives of the Canadian community of neutron beam users. He has contributed to strategic initiatives in materials research and nuclear science fields by providing policy advice, engaging with stakeholders, and writing accessible research impact stories. He has written dozens of evidence-based briefing materials, performance reports, funding requests, commentaries or discussion papers for federal government agencies, parliamentary committees, and stakeholders in the research community. His documents have covered diverse topics in science and innovation policy. He has authored over 60 accessible research stories that provide examples of impact to support strategic initiatives.
Dr. Banks earned further experience with democratic decision-making bodies and policy issues, by serving as an elected member of the Council of the Town of Deep River, Ontario (2010-2014). He was promoted to Deputy Mayor in less than a year in recognition of his thoughtful, conscientious deliberation of matters before the Council. He is a former Director of Science Policy for the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and remains a contributing member of the CAP science policy committee. His scientific and academic credentials include 15 scientific publications, including the 12th-most cited paper of all biophysics papers in Web of Science in 2005. He earned a PhD in physics in 2008, and a Master of Business Administration in 2018, both from McMaster University. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Physicists, the Canadian Nuclear Society, and the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering. More on LinkedIn
Zin Tun, PhD, Professional Physicist (P.Phys.)
Scientific Instrument Development
Dr. Tun provides scientific oversight and leadership in projects to design and construct scientific instruments. Tun specializes in neutron scattering instruments as well as other nuclear related installations. Dr. Tun was the Scientific Authority in the design and construction of two neutron beam instruments at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor, which represent projects valued at over $10M, and for the $2.4M D3 neutron reflectometer at the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre. He is expected to take a similar responsibility in the construction of three additional instruments at MNR funded by the recently announced $14.25M CFI Innovation Fund award “Building a Future for Canadian Neutron Scattering.” He is currently engaged in two projects – one funded by the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and another by the New Frontiers in Research Fund – that aim to develop a compact neutron source for Canada.
A scientist with over 40 years experience, Dr. Tun has done research on various kinds of materials using X-ray and neutron beams. In more than one hundred peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Tun has made important contributions not only on fundamental properties of materials but also on instrumentation and experimental techniques. He is Canada’s pioneer in the application of neutron beams to the study surfaces and thin films. He served on research proposal review committees in Canada as well as for user facilities in the US and in Australia. He served as Canada’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency for a review of enhancing the use of research reactors in the developing countries in 2003-04. Having served the National Research Council Canada until the closure of the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre in 2019, he now serves as a consultant to Canadian universities and national laboratories.
Jesse Berlin
Research Analyst
Aye Chan Moe
Software Engineer
Thit Tun
Scientific Instrument Development