Dr John Preston

Dr. John Preston, PhD is Strategic Advisor to the Vice-President, Research on McMaster University’s Nuclear Enterprise.

Preston, who recently completed two terms as Associate Dean of Research, Innovation and Partnerships in the Faculty of Engineering, assumed the one-year role on July 1, 2024.

A professor of engineering physics, he played a critical role in the success and growth of the Faculty of Engineering over the last decade; leading its research initiatives through transformative innovations, change and challenges. He also helped to build its nuclear capacity and reputation – something he’s keen to expand upon to advance McMaster’s nuclear enterprise.

He also serves as the Director of the NSERC CREATE Program in Photovoltaics, overseeing initiatives aimed at fostering advancements in solar energy technology. His research group focuses on the application of lasers in creating, fabricating, and analyzing novel materials that are of interest for future devices, with a significant emphasis on improving materials and processes for solar cells. One specific focus of Preston’s work is pulsed laser deposition. The team operates three chambers for laser ablative deposition of thin films, each optimized for different purposes. The research group leverages the state-of-the-art facilities available at the Brockhouse Materials Research Institute, including the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy and the McMaster Analytical X-Ray.