MENTEE – Kevin Yonathan

Kevin received a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, in 2014. He then pursued an MSc in Biotechnology at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, where he was awarded two scholarships: Wageningen University Fellowship Program and Anne van den Ban Fund Scholarship. His Master’s program was specialised in bioprocess technology, focusing on engineering strategies for enhancing or improving production in fermentation, bioconversion and enzymatic synthesis or degradation. He joined the microalgae biorefinery research group to work on his Master’s thesis on bead milling in a cell disruption process, investigating the process parameters for optimal release of intracellular products, e.g., protein, carbohydrate, and lipid. This work led to the publication of a research article in the ‘Bioresource Technology’ journal. Kevin also had an opportunity to do an internship at DSM Biotechnology Centre, The Netherlands, working on a project in lignocellulosic bioethanol fermentation, as part of his Master’s program. Following his Master’s graduation in 2016, he got the chance to go back to Indonesia and work in both academia and industry settings. Aside from teaching undergraduate chemical engineering students, he was also working on wastewater treatment projects as a junior consultant, informing better strategies for industries to improve their wastewater treatment systems.

Kevin is currently a PhD student at the iThree Institute, University of Technology Sydney. As a biochemical engineer by training, Kevin is adventurous enough to learn bioinformatics from scratch and apply it to his PhD project. He uses a metagenomics approach to elucidate the ecological/environmental impact of the most popular nanoparticles: nanosilver.

Outside of his studies, Kevin is a piano teacher and an amateur music producer. He also enjoys cooking and reading non fiction books.