Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry, Nazarbayev University
Professor
Timur Sh. Atabaev
ORCID
WEB OF SCIENCE
SCOPUS
GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Dr. Timur Sh. Atabaev earned his Ph.D. in 2012 at Pusan National University (South Korea) under the supervision of Prof. Hyung Kook Kim and Prof. Yoon-Hwae Hwang.

He was a postdoctoral fellow and research professor at Pusan National and Seoul National Universities from 2012 to 2017.


Dr. Atabaev joined Nazarbayev University in 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.

His research interests include multifunctional materials and advanced nanostructures for biomedical, optical, energy, sensing, and photocatalytic applications.


He is currently a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Materials Research Society (MRS).

He is also a recipient of the "Young Researcher of the Year" Scopus 2018 and

WoS "Leader of Science" 2020 international awards. Furthermore, he serves as an associate editor of the Frontiers in Chemistry and Micro & Nano Letters journals.

BIOGRAPHY
AWARDS & HONORS
  • Certificate, IOP Publishing (UK) trusted reviewer, Dec. 2023
  • Recent research article Coatings 12 (2022) 218 was highlighted in “AZO Materials”
  • “Leader of Science” Web of Science award in the nomination “Top-peer reviewer”, Nov. 2020
  • “Young Researcher of the Year” Scopus Award 2018 (Elsevier), Nov. 2018.
  • Certificate, Outstanding Reviewer for CrystEngComm journal (Royal Society of Chemistry), Feb 2017, highlighted in http://blogs.rsc.org/ce
  • Best poster award, NanoKorea 2014 Symposium
  • Figure from research article Nanotechnology 24 (2013) 345603 was selected for the front cover in Nanotechnology journal.
  • Research article Journal of Alloys and Compounds 572 (2013) 113-117 was highlighted in “Advances in Engineering”.
PATENT
  • T.S. Atabaev, H.K. Kim, Y.H. Hwang, “Core-shell structured bifunctional contrast nanoagents and using method thereof”. South Korea, KR101819429B1
Courses Offered
CHEM 250 – Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry
Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry course serves as a cursory overview of the basic concepts involved in inorganic chemistry, including symmetry in nature and point group theory, atomic packaging, and solid-state chemistry. The main groups of chemical elements and their compounds also covered in the framework of the course that will prepare the students for upper-level courses.
CHEM 488 – Directed Research I
This course is the first course to satisfy the students’ research requirements and is taken after CHEM 380 – Research Methods. Directed Research I is designed to provide hands-on research experience to students and to develop skills that are required to plan and conduct experiments in chemistry.
CHEM 489 – Directed Research II
This course is the second course to satisfy the students’ research requirements and is taken after CHEM 488 – Directed Research I. The course aims to provide opportunities for students to finish the project, summarize the results, and participate in the preparation of research manuscripts.
CHEM 490 – Nanochemistry
This course focuses on nanomaterials' chemical synthesis, functionalization/modification, and applications, as compared to single molecules and bulk materials. Students will be offered a comprehensive overview of: 1- The nano-world (general definition, philosophy…), 2- Physico-chemical considerations (band structures, typical and useful “nano effects”, 3. Wet-chemical approaches for nanostructured materials synthesis (metals, metal oxides, metal sulfides…), 4. Carbon based nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, tullerenes, graphene…), 5- Microporous and mesoporous nanostructured materials, 6- Nanocomposites, 7- Overview of Nanosafety.
CHEM 091 – Survey of Physical Science
 Surveys the exciting world of science and explains the basic scientific laws and models by which the physical universe may be understood. Stresses historical aspects and the impact of physical science on modern society. Draws topics from the fields of physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology and astronomy. 
CHEM 090 – Chemistry for Non-Science Majors
Introduction to the fundamental concepts of chemistry such as atomic structure, classification of compounds and chemical bonding. The student will acquire the basic knowledge upon which to build an understanding and appreciation of chemistry and its relationship to our world and life processes. 
CHEM 531 – Nanochemistry and Functional Nanomaterials
Nanochemistry and Functional Nanomaterials course provide a survey on the fundamental working principles of nanomaterials and their important role in modern science and technology. The course will discuss interesting interdisciplinary scientific approaches discussing the role of functional nanomaterials in catalytic reactions and sensing mechanisms. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe the working mechanism and design various nanomaterials-based sensors. This will provide a deeper understanding both of materials chemistry and analytical chemistry.
CHEM 560 – Directed Research in Chemistry
This course is designed to direct and evaluate the student’s research activity that is initiated after the completion of the CHEM550 Selected topics in chemistry course. Specifically, students will conduct feasibility studies, practice required experimental methodologies and collect samples and data. As a result, the original research proposal and associated experimental methodologies are refined and optimized providing a basis for drafting final Thesis Proposal during the Fall Semester of the second year.
CHEM 591 – Scientific Methods in Chemistry (team-taught course)
This course introduces the students to specialized modern topics in physical, materials, organic and inorganic chemistry which are at the forefront of this discipline. The course will not only to give students a comprehensive overview of many modern areas in physical, inorganic, organic and materials science, but also to present them with some current challenges and perspectives in these fields. The course will be delivered by 7 cycles of multidisciplinary lectures from 7 Chemistry faculty members, specific to their research interests, and covering broad topics.
CHEM 700 – Hot Topics in Chemistry (team-taught course)
This course introduces the students to specialized modern topics in physical, materials, organic and inorganic chemistry which are at the forefront of this discipline. The course will not only to give students a comprehensive overview of many modern areas in physical, inorganic, organic and materials science, but also to present them with some current challenges and perspectives in these fields. The course will be delivered by 7 cycles of multidisciplinary lectures from 7 Chemistry faculty members, specific to their research interests, and covering broad topics.
CHEM 752 – Materials Chemistry
Our technology-driven world is fueled by advances in materials chemistry with examples of application in areas such as microelectronics, sensors, catalysis, and energy technology. This course provides an overview of materials chemistry with a particular emphasis on the correlation between materials structure and their properties. In the framework of the course, we will discuss how different classes of materials are produced, why they exhibit some specific properties, and how these properties are applied in industry and manufacturing. In particular, the course covers synthesis and detailed discussion on how molecular structure and crystallinity of materials can be related to electronic, optical, magnetic, mechanical, and other useful physicochemical properties of materials.