Daniel Banks, PhD, MBA
President and Principal Consultant
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.)
Principal Consultant
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.
Ian P. Swainson, PhD
Associate Consultant
Nuclear and Neutron Beam Facilities
Dr. Swainson has over 35 years’ experience in scientific, operations, advisory and management roles in nuclear facilities, including recently held positions in governmental bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, Austria) and Nuclear Restoration Services, Dounreay (United Kingdom). In these roles, he managed over 20 international development projects, managed the operating budget for national nuclear lab facilities (~80 people, ~10M GBP), and served as an external expert for more than a dozen international agencies, facilities or technical events on nuclear and neutron beam topics, leading to several IAEA publications. He served for 18 years as a Research Officer at the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre at the Chalk River Laboratories, where he published numerous papers in neutron diffraction for materials research in areas such as perovskites, mineral systems, and nuclear fuels.
Laurence Lejeune, M.Sc.
Science and Society Consultant
PhD Candidate in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at UQAM
Laurence began her career in Paris, France, before moving to Canada in 2000. She held the position of Scientific Platform Manager for ten years, first at the Lady Davis Institute and then at the CHUM Research Centre. During this period, she trained hundreds of individuals in the fundamentals of cytometry. Until 2015, she gained extensive industry experience and project management expertise as a Sales Specialist at Beckman Coulter. Subsequently, until 2022, she worked as an independent consultant, providing support in microscopy and cytometry (training, quality control, validation) to clients in academia, hospitals, and the private sector.
Laurence has also been deeply involved in professional associations, starting as a founding member (2005) and later as President (2008-2012) of the Canadian Cytometry and Microscopy Association. In 2016, she co-founded the Canadian Network of Scientific Platforms (CNSP), where she served as Vice President until 2022. She remains actively engaged in various initiatives, including contributing to an international recommendation for measuring the impact of imaging facilities, in collaboration with Global Bioimaging where she now acts as a chair of the Impact Working Group. Her current role as a PhD candidate in STS reflects her commitment to understanding the role and impact of scientific platforms within the academic research ecosystem.
Jesse Berlin, B.Sc.
Senior Research Analyst
Jesse Berlin brings technical expertise and analytical rigor to the planning and execution of complex research initiatives. With a background spanning the humanities, social sciences, and computer science, Jesse supports project management and evaluation of research infrastructure. He contributes technical analysis to strategic initiatives led by TVB’s clients. He leads the analysis in Alumni Analyzer studies of research organizations. He specializes in data analysis, modeling, and systems design in support of science policy and institutional strategy.
Jesse has previously worked as a research consultant on projects ranging from business cases for scientific research and development projects, government consultation submissions, and modelling the future of energy usage in the province of Ontario. His technical competencies include Python, R, SPSS, Excel, and SQL for quantitative analysis, as well as HTML, JavaScript, Java, and C# for systems integration and interface development. He has developed frameworks for project governance, analyzed performance metrics, and supported digital infrastructure planning.
Jesse holds a BSc in Cognitive Science and Philosophy from the University of Toronto, with a minor in Computer Science. His research contributions include publications on computer science education, and he continues to support national science initiatives at the intersection of research, technology, and public policy.
Thit Tun
Scientific Instrument Development
Hailing from the heart of the Ottawa Valley, Thit was brought on to TVB under the tutelage of his father, Dr. Zin Tun, to assist in the design of new neutron scattering instruments. In 2018, Thit graduated from Carleton University, specializing in aerospace engineering. Having served 16 months with the National Research Council of Canada as an airborne research & remote sensing co-op student before graduation, Thit continued his career in aerospace with Diamond Aircraft Industries. Initially as a technical writer, and soon-to-be technical publications lead, he authored aircraft flight manuals, maintenance manuals, and developed service bulletins with the engineering, customer support, and production teams. A year later, Thit was promoted to the airworthiness group, eventually becoming Diamond’s focal point for continuing airworthiness, managing the Diamond Aircraft occurrence database, tracking and investigating incidents across thousands of aircraft worldwide, assisting national authorities with matters concerning flight safety and assisting with the validation of aircraft type designs, all while overseeing the technical publications team, assisting engineers with design changes and corrective actions, responding to technical queries, and coordinating activities with external stakeholders and investigative authorities.
After five years with Diamond, Thit found new opportunities at AirPro SAR, diving into the world of military aviation, and providing engineering support to the Royal Canadian Air Force Kingfisher search & rescue program. Less than a year later, Thit accepted yet another new challenge, this time as AirPro’s Configuration Management Specialist, tracking change control activities such as the implementation of modifications, special inspections, and overseeing the configuration of the Kingfisher fleet. Not wanting to be too far removed from academia, Thit joined TVB in 2024 to hone new design skills and assist in the shaping of Canada’s future in neutron scattering.
Sungmin Joo
Technician
Sungmin is a neutron instrumentation intern involved in the development of Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) at McMaster University. She is pursuing a degree in Physics with a minor in Mathematics at the University of Toronto. Her academic interests lie in Quantum Condensed Matter Physics, particularly in how advancement of instrumentation can drive scientific discovery in this field. This passion is what draws her to neutron instrumentation work at TVB Associates.
Technical Designer 1
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Sherri Rough
Business Administrator
Data Analyst 1
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