Professor Justin Hodgkiss

How kids’ puzzle sparked professor's stellar science career

As a pre-schooler Justin Hodgkiss was not an easy child, his parents found him a struggle to cope with, he gave his two sisters grief. 

All that changed when his first primary teacher twigged all was not as it should be for a child of his obvious intellect.  

To unravel his problem he was taken to a doctor, he suspects it was a child psychologist. When a logic-based puzzle was put in front of him his previously introverted world burst into life, it provided him with the mental stimulation his brain was obviously craving.

“Apparently I wet myself because I was so overwhelmed with excitement by that puzzle. I have no recollection at all about this and found it hard to believe, but with a  three-year-old of my own I can imagine how difficult I must have been.” 

That’s a raw confession from the Professor in Physical Chemistry at Wellington’s  Victoria University and co-director of the MacDiarmid Institute. Founded in 2002, the institute partners with government, industries and iwi to address such major global challenges as climate change and renewable energy. 

In Profile learns all this is in a rush, when you’re a man of  Professor Hodgkiss’ national standing there’s scant time for a leisurely chat or extended photo shoots. Life for him is lived on the run, there are always planes to catch, meetings and conferences to attend. 

We counted our blessings that we were able to grab him during a rushed visit home pre lockdown to meet with Whakarewarewa Village trustees with whom he’s working to support culturally appropriate scientific education.  

Our get-together was preceded by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the trust and MacDiarmid Institute to cement this mutual objective.

It’s a subject close to the professor’s bi-cultural Rotorua heart. All his pre-university education was locally based.

Justin’s quick to banish any misconceptions he was an ‘all work and no play’ kind of  kid.

“I certainly don’t want to portray myself as some sort of child genius, I was just a kid who enjoyed learning and participating in sport although I can’t say I excelled at it at a competitive level.”

Mountain biking, which began on local trails, remains a recreational passion.       

His interest in the sciences was fostered in early childhood.

“My parents [Pat and Paddi Hodgkiss] worked at the FRI [now Scion], it was, and still is, Rotorua’s major science employer, many of their friends were scientists, there were a lot of international visitors from the scientific field coming through, they’d come to dinner, I guess that was pretty pivotal for me.”  

Boys’ High years

It was at Boys’ High that Justin began to flourish intellectually. In 1996 he was named a Rotorua Young Achiever and was inducted into his former school’s Hall of Fame in 2013.

“I was blessed to have some really exceptional teachers at a time the school started an accelerate programme, they really wanted to inspire and stimulate top students.

“Suddenly I was in a class of very very smart kids, engaging with some     

really enthuastic, passionate teachers. We had the opportunity to really extend ourselves and go well beyond the syllabus.”

Again Justin debunks any suggestion he was the leader of the brain box pack.

“I was certainly not at the top of the class, the dux or even next ranked. The thing I really valued was that I learnt a lot more being around a lot of smart kids.” 

That said, he has mixed feelings about class streaming nowadays.

 “I have real concerns about streaming across the system. It can mean that not all people are given the opportunities and attention they deserve to succeed. We see people’s opportunities to progress in science being closed down not necessarily  because they weren’t good enough at maths for various reasons, I think that’s a real tragedy.”

It’s a given Justin’s Boys’ High subjects included maths, chemistry and physics. English and German rounded out the line up. The latter two took him overseas.

As a member of the debating team  he was among those chosen to represent the school on a trip to Japan.

“Tennogi  High School in Osaka was celebrating its bi-centenary, Boys’ High had connections with it through rugby so a group from the school were invited to take part in a cultural exchange programme. We didn’t do any debating but learnt to play the Taiko drums which we performed in this massive auditorium.”

The Japanese trip was brief, the one he made to Germany stretched over two months.   

“We didn’t have a German teacher at Boys’ High so went to Girls’ High for lessons. It was there I became involved in an exchange programme to Stuttgart. That was a really great time where I was at an age of discovering independence.”

We get a flash of his dry wit as he confesses his ability to speak German is not something he tends to make known.

  “As a scientist I collaborate with many Germans who speak fluent English, I don’t attempt to reveal I can speak a little bit of their language.” 

Universities home and away

There was no contest which university he’d study at once out of secondary school, for him it was Otago.

“Like many others I was looking to get as far away from home as possible for a bit of independence and adventure. My thinking was I could combine science and law, but as it turned out I hated law. 

“I was doing subjects with an eye on environmental law and although I did pretty well I just didn’t enjoy it. I turned to the science side and that’s where I am now.”

 Demanding as his studies were, Justin didn’t allow them to stand in the way of the fun side of being a student.

“I really enjoyed the camaraderie of student life, I made many close friends I’m still in touch with.

“However I didn’t do anything you’d see on the news, certainly no couch burning or things like that.”           

While at Otago a couple of long vacations were spent working on ski fields in Vail, Colorado. He’d become a keen snowboarder.

“That was a lot of fun and made me realise I wanted to combine my OE with my education. 

Justin’s international academic trajectory blasted off when he secured a US Fulbright scholarship following his Otago graduation with a BSc that came garnished with honours in chemistry.

Securing the Fulbright gave him entry to Boston’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There he obtained his PhD, specialising in physical chemistry.

Initially all wasn’t as rosy as he’d imagined it would be at the prestigious MIT.

“I have to say the first few months were incredibly tough, I was way out of my depth because of the huge pressure placed on students, it’s called ‘drinking out of the fire hose’. I was in a class of top graduates from universities like Berkeley and Stanford and felt overwhelmed. I considered dropping out, but over the course of the first year I began to find my feet in research groups with the focus on renewable energy which I found really exciting.

“I got the research bug, you become hungry to learn more.”

Boston was a great place to socialise with fellow international students and he attempted to pick up on American sport, playing in the social softball league.  “I was there when Boston won the Baseball World Series, that was huge.”

What wasn’t such fun was the time he and some mates attempted to swim across the city’s filthy Charles River, a waterway as wide as a lake.

 “As it turned out we were spotted by people in a boating club and advised it was against the law to swim in it. It was a shock for someone from Rotorua, as a kid I’d always loved jumping into our lakes, swimming in them was something I took for granted.”

There was also a brush with Boston’s seamier side – being the victim of a gun point robbery.  

“I was walking alone late one night when these kids ran up behind me with a gun yelling ‘drop your wallet, drop your wallet’.  

He did, knowing something the would-be robbers didn’t. It was stuffed with counterfeit notes.

“A few days earlier one of our supervisors accused our work group of ‘dealing in the currency of neglect and self absorption. Making light of this accusation one of the guys made false dollar bills with these words printed on them.” 

Justin didn’t stick around to watch the muggers’ reaction to the forged currency.    

Leaving MIT with his PhD in physical chemistry, his plan was to continue with post doctoral research. “I really enjoy research, it’s an adventure into the unknown.”

However his thirst for travel was equally strong, leading to a stopover in India en route to the UK, final destination Cambridge University.

“I had absolutely no money but fortunately I had the opportunity through the MIT international programme to do an internship in a biotech company in Bangalore. It was culture shock for so many reasons, the crowds, the traffic, the colours, it was absolutely sensory overload.

“I worked with lovely people who looked after me and showed me around, it was such a fantastic time.”

Marriage, top postings

 Knuckling down in Cambridge his work revolved around next generation printable  solar cells. The neighbouring lab was tackling a similar project. One of those working on it was Natalie Plank from Aberdeen, she and Justin began to socialise (his words). She is now his wife but they didn’t marry until he’d returned to New Zealand seven years after leaving it.

“One of the conditions of my Fulbright was I had to spend two years back in my home country before returning to the US.

“Looking for jobs for two people in the same place wasn’t easy, we were young and naive, then this job lecturing in physical chemistry came up at Victoria [Wellington]. I didn’t have high expectations but I got the offer.” Academic work also came Natalie’s way. 

When they wed it was in a very low key Justin Hodgkiss  kind of way.

“It was in a registry office, our thinking was if we couldn’t have all our friends and family there we wouldn’t have anybody so no one would be offended. We simply had witnesses who were neutral.”

It’s a cheeky move to ask this problem child who grew up to become such a prominent  national scientific figure if he’s a nerd but he takes it on the chin.

“I guess I do consider myself a nerd, probably the most important thing about being a scientist and academic is accepting it’s a journey of life-long learning that doesn’t stop.  

“I recognise I’ve been incredibly privileged, that I have had opportunities that don't come to everyone. Now as a leader of science in New Zealand it’s my privilege to make sure young people coming through get these opportunities too. 

“It's an incredibly exciting time to be entering the workforce when our tech export industry is growing so fast and about to become our top export earner.”