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Cluster One Research Evaluation Committee
Biographies of Members
Chair
Professor Mark von Itzstein
Griffith University
Professor Mark von Itzstein is the Director of the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University.
He has international standing in glycoscience and drug discovery particularly in the area of anti-infective drug discovery. He has established an internationally-recognised research program that is investigating the discovery of novel anti-microbial drugs, including novel anti-influenza drugs and anti-cancer drugs based on carbohydrate-related pathways. He is a world-leading medicinal chemist whose work has been largely responsible for the Australian invention of the world’s first ‘designer’ anti-viral drug, Relenza™ that blocks the action of influenza virus.
Professor von Itzstein’s contributions have been recognised through the award of a number of international and national prizes, for example the Australia Prize jointly awarded for outstanding contribution to pharmaceutical sciences and drug discovery (1996); an Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis in recognition of his outstanding contributions to scientific endeavour (2001); ARC Federation Fellowship (2002); Centenary Medal (2003); Royal Australian Chemical Institute Adrien Albert Award (2005); University of Queensland, Gatton Gold Medal (2005); Zimmer International Scholar Award, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (2007). He was elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science in 2003.
In 2000 Professor von Itzstein established the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University through a multi-million dollar investment by the University and the Queensland State Government.
Professor von Itzstein has served on several industry Scientific Review Committees and Boards over the past 5 years including Meditech Research Ltd, EqiTx, Glykoz Pty Ltd, and ZingoTx.
Physical Sciences
Professor Anne Green
The University of Sydney
Professor Anne Green is head of the School of Physics at the University of Sydney and was Director of the renowned Molonglo Observatory for a decade. She is an alumna of the University of Sydney, and was the first female PhD student to be enrolled in the Physics Department, originally working with Professor Bernard Mills. As Head of School, Professor Green has also scored another first with her appointment as Director of the Science Foundation for Physics, founded in 1954 by Professor Harry Messel.
Professor Green is an active member of an international team which is planning to build the next generation radio telescope known as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). She is currently leading the SKA Molonglo Prototype project, known as SKAMP, which is a test-bed for SKA digital signal technologies and some of the key science goals.
In another role, Professor Green chairs a working group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on Women in Astronomy and she was part of the IAU General Assembly at Prague in 2006, which voted to classify Pluto as a dwarf planet.
Professor Green's research is on the ecology and structure of the Milky Way galaxy. She produced the most detailed panoramic low-frequency radio maps of the Galactic spiral structure that exist and discovered more than a quarter of the known relics of exploded stars, known as supernova remnants. In these remnants a new class of masers (microwave lasers in space) were found. Professor Green is a member of the early discovery team as well as a member of the team that discovered a new outer spiral arm for the Milky Way. Professor Green now leads a group looking for new sites of massive star formation, which play a major role in determining the evolution of a galaxy.Professor Ken Freeman
The Australian National University
Professor Freeman earned a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Western Australia in 1962, and a PhD in theoretical astrophysics from the University of Cambridge in 1965. Following his PhD, he was the W.J. McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow working with Antoinette and Gérard de Vaucouleurs at The University of Texas. After a year as a Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, he returned to Australia to a highly distinguished career at The Australian National University where he is currently the Duffield Professor in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Professor Freeman's research has concentrated on the formation, dynamics, and evolution of globular clusters and galaxies, including the Milky Way galaxy. His ground-breaking work on spiral galaxies has spawned an industry trying to understand how these galaxies acquire their mass. His observational work on the components of our own Milky Way galaxy is of fundamental importance to theoretical models for its formation. Freeman was one of the first astronomers to point out that spiral galaxies are rich in dark matter, and he has led significant efforts trying to measure the dark halo content in galaxies of all masses. By synthesizing results over all galaxy types, Professor Freeman places himself in a unique position to make advances into one of the most important problems of our times: the nature of dark matter.
In 1981, Professor Freeman was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and in 1998 a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1998 the American Astronomical Society and the American Institute of Physics awarded him the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, and in 2004 he was awarded the Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Memorial Lectureship and Medal. He has held numerous prestigious visiting appointments and lectureships including the Aaronson Lectureship at the University of Arizona (1990), the Oort Professorship at Leiden University (1994), the Beatrice Tinsley Professorship at The University of Texas at Austin (2001), the Blaauw Professorship at the University of Groningen (2003), Visiting Member at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton (1984, 1988), and appointment as Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute for many years from 1988.
Professor Peter Drummond
Swinburne University
Professor Peter Drummond is from Swinburne University’s Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy. He was awarded the 2008 Walter Boas Medal from the Australian Institute of Physics. The Walter Boas award was established in 1984 and recognises original research and the most important contribution to physics. The award is for physics research carried out in the five years prior to the date of the award, as demonstrated by both published and unpublished papers.
Professor Drummond’s research in relation to ultra-cold atoms and quantum optics, has led to the development of new theoretical calculations in both fields. This theoretical work has been characterised by testable predictions and consequently Professor Drummond’s work has been adopted by a range of experimental groups. The importance of Professor Drummond’s work is evidenced by exceptional citation rates, even within the relevant field of research, indicating a high degree of visibility for the theoretical work.
As well as ultra-cold atomic physics - both fermions and bosons - he also works on quantum information, foundations of quantum measurement, genetics and computational physics.
Professor Lloyd Hollenberg
University of Melbourne
Professor Hollenberg completed his PhD in 1989 at the University of Melbourne in theoretical particle physics and was subsequently awarded a JSPS Fellowship at the KEK accelerator laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan. After his postdoctoral period he returned to the School of Physics where he is now Professor and an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow. In the interim, he spent extended periods working at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg (1999) and the University of Munich (2005), sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 2000 Professor Hollenberg joined the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology, and since establishing the Quantum Device Modelling and Algorithms Program in 2001 has been the major driving force and architect of the Centre’s long-term silicon quantum computer vision. He also works on near-term quantum communication technology as a Technical Director of the Quantum Communications Victoria initiative (2005-2008), and more recently developing new quantum based imaging techniques crossing over to the nano-bio realm. Professor Hollenberg served on the College of Experts (2006-2008), and as Chair of the Physics, Chemistry and Geosciences panel in 2008.
Professor Tanya Monro
The University of Adelaide
Professor Tanya Monro is a Federation Fellow in the School of Chemistry & Physics at the University of Adelaide. She is Director of the newly formed Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing (IPAS), which focuses on transdisciplinary research that brings together scientists from diverse areas to develop new sensing methodologies and build these into platform technologies for environmental monitoring, defence and preventative health. Since 2005 she has been the Director of the Centre of Expertise in Photonics (CoEP), which was created as the result of a partnership between DSTO and the University of Adelaide. The CoEP currently comprises 30 researchers focused on new classes of micro and nanostructured optical fibres for defence. Professor Monro is a member of the South Australian Premier’s Science & Research Council, a founding steering member of the RI Aus, and provides advice to the PM on science via PMSEIC. In 2008, she received the Australian Prime Minister’s Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year. She obtained her PhD in physics in 1998 from the University of Sydney, for which she was awarded the Bragg Gold Medal for the best physics PhD in Australia in that year. In 2000, she received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the University of Southampton in the UK. Tanya Monro has published 300 papers.
Chemistry
Professor Peter Lay
University of Sydney
Professor Peter Lay is currently the Academic Director of the Foundation for Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Sydney and ARC Professorial Fellow. Professor Lay has pioneered many areas of bioinorganic chemistry, from metal-induced cancers, to metal anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory drugs and methods for studying directly their biodistributions and biotransformations in target cells.
Professor Lay commenced a Lectureship in inorganic chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1985, and received a Personal Chair in 1997 and an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellowship from 2002 to 2007. Peter has received the Rennie, Burrows and HG Smith Medals from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the Edgeworth David Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales for his research in inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, including the design of metal-containing pharmaceuticals. Professor Lay is an FAA and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Berne in Switzerland in 1991 and the National University of Argentina in 1999.
Professor Paul Haddad
University of Tasmania
Professor Paul Haddad is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tasmania, Director of the Pfizer Analytical Research Centre and an ARC Federation Fellow. He is an editor of Journal of Chromatography A and a member of the editorial boards of 10 other journals of analytical chemistry or separation science.
After graduating from the Royal Military College Duntroon in 1969 with a Diploma of Military Studies, Professor Haddad obtained the degrees of BSc, PhD and DSc from The University of New South Wales. His academic career has been spent at The Australian National University, The University of New South Wales, and since 1992 at University of Tasmania. Professor Haddad is Director of the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science and Director of the Pfizer Analytical Research Centre.
Professor Haddad’s main research is in the field of separation science - the process of separating complex mixtures into their sample components, followed by the measurement of the amounts of individual components present in the sample. Professor Haddad has applied separation science principles to develop techniques to rapidly identify explosives used in terrorist attacks.
Professor Hans Griesser
University of South Australia
Professor Hans Griesser is Professor of Surface Science and Deputy Director at the Ian Wark Research Institute at the University of South Australia. He has a background in physical chemistry and materials science, with much of his current research activities focusing on the science and applications of materials interfacing with biological environments, and in surface characterisation techniques. He took up this appointment in 2002.
Professor Griesser’s university training was undertaken at the Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule (ETH; Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, Switzerland, from where he obtained a degree in chemistry and a PhD in Physical Chemistry. His PhD studies were in the field of molecular spectroscopy. He also gained a Diploma in Education (High School chemistry teaching).
After his PhD he moved to Australia in 1979 to take up a Research Fellow position at the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University. This was followed by employment (1982-86) at the Research Laboratory of Kodak (Australasia) where he was part of a multi-national project team working on R&D of non-photographic data storage technologies, with Hans specializing in polymeric films and surface characterization. He was also responsible for the characterization laboratory, which serviced research projects as well as the manufacturing plant, with two full-time staff and an array of equipment including electron and optical microscopes.
Professor Griesser then moved to CSIRO where he built up a research group in surface science. The combination of skills in surface modification, thin film coatings, and surface characterization provided a platform for gaining a number of projects that ranged from biomaterials, bio-diagnostics, and protective coatings to materials surface engineering. Much of his research was performed in multi-disciplinary teams, often with biological science partners, and these collaborations opened up many avenues for novel applications of materials surface engineering and thin film coating processes. Surface characterization was an essential element in that R&D. He was a key member of the first-round CRC for Eye Research and Technology and one of the leaders of the large international project team that generated a contact lens that can be worn for 30 days and nights and is now a large commercial success.
At the University of South Australia since early 2002, his research focuses on nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology, for the understanding and development of novel biomaterials interfaces and solid materials surfaces. The design of novel surfaces and coatings for biomaterials and bio-diagnostics is based on fundamental molecular understanding, including the study of adsorption and interaction phenomena at the material/solution interface, and the application of nanotechnology concepts. Other projects focus on materials for engineering applications. In all projects detailed characterization is an essential aspect, employing both vacuum analytical techniques such as XPS and ToF-SIMS, as well as methods such as QCM-D and SPR that characterize interactions between materials surfaces and biological molecules in solution. Current areas of significant research activity are antibacterial coatings, cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, and bio-diagnostics.
Professor Griesser was President of the Australian Society for Biomaterials in 2000, 2001, and 2003, and has served in many other honorary professional functions.
Professor Mark Spackman
University of Western Australia
Professor Mark Spackman is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Western Australia. He is currently a co-editor of the journal Acta Crystallographica, and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal CrystEngComm.
Professor Spackman received his BSc in chemical physics (1976) and PhD in theoretical chemistry (1980) from the University of Western Australia. After several years of postdoctoral studies he was appointed at the University of New England in 1987. Promoted to Professor in 1999, he has served terms as Convenor of Chemistry and Head of School at the University of New England. In 2003 he was awarded a five-year ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship (2004-2008), enabling him to focus full-time on his research for an extended period, and in 2004 he was appointed to the University of
Western Australia.
Professor Spackman is an internationally recognised leader in the field of charge density analysis of accurate X-ray diffraction data. His recent work involves novel computational approaches to the visualization and characterization of intermolecular interactions in molecular crystals, with a special focus on applications in crystal
engineering.
Professor Carl Schiesser
University of Melbourne
Carl Schiesser is Professor of Chemistry, University of Melbourne and Director, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology.
The major focus of Professor Schiesser’s research efforts is the development and application of novel free radical chemistry with specific emphasis on the chemistry of selenium and the development of new reagents. He has developed world-leading expertise in homolytic substitution chemistry and applies this to the preparation of novel molecules of therapeutic value. Specific current targets are in the areas of hypertension, inflammation and heart disease.
Professor Schiesser is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Earth Sciences
Professor Suzanne Y. O'Reilly
Macquarie University
Professor Suzanne O'Reilly currently has a personal chair in Geology and is Director of the ARC National Key Centre for Geochemical Evolution and Metallogeny of Continents (GEMOC), Macquarie University. She is concurrently Professor of Earth Sciences at Nanjing University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and a Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Professor O'Reilly was a member of the ARC Physics, Chemistry and Geosciences Expert Advisory Committee 2001-2003; and a member of the Australian Academy Committee for Earth Sciences.
Professor O’Reilly is fields of research include: the integration of geophysical, geochemical, petrological, petrophysical and tectonic data to construct realistic lithospheric structure and evolution models (4-D Lithosphere Mapping) and understand whole-mantle dynamics through time; the geochemistry and evolution of the mantle and deep crust; the geochemistry and origin of basaltic magmas and their geodynamic significance; trace element dispersions, residence sites and mineral partitioning in the mantle; relationship between mantle geochemistry and structure, volcanic activity, tectonic environment and economic deposits.
Professor Will Featherstone
Curtin University of Technology
Professor Will Featherstone is currently Professor of Geodesy (Personal Chair) and ARC Professorial Fellow at Curtin University of Technology, Perth. He is also Director of the Western Australian Centre for Geodesy and Deputy Director of The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR).
Professor Featherstone’s primary area of research is geodesy (the study of the size, shape and gravity field of the Earth; i.e., the scientific basis of positioning and navigation), notably gravity field and sea-level determination. He was chief investigator on an ARC-funded project that led to the Australian national standard geoid model that was released by Geoscience Australia as AUSGeoid98. [The geoid is the mean sea level surface that is used to make the GPS (global positioning system) practically useful for the determination of heights]. Professor Featherstone and colleagues are currently working on its replacement.
When promoted to a Personal Chair, Professor Featherstone was the then-youngest full professor in Australia. In 2006, he was Curtin University's first-ever recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship to work collaboratively with German geodetic scientists at the University of Stuttgart, and this work continues. Professor Featherstone holds a first-class degree in Geophysics and Planetary Physics from the Newcastle University, and a doctorate in Geodesy from Oxford University.
Professor Featherstone also serves on numerous other national and international committees/boards, is a consultant to national and international governments and private-sector companies, and serves as an expert witness for the Western Australian courts. His other research interests include many aspects of modern geodesy, including vertical datum definition and unification, geodetic aspects of sea-level change, satellite-based positioning, geodynamics, and map projections and coordinate transformations.
Professor Mark Barley
University of Western Australia
Professor Mark Barley is Winthrop Professor in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Western Australia. Initially trained in volcanology, petrology and geochemistry, his key research and expertise is in the evolution of the early Earth (3,500 to 1,500 million years ago) in particular links between tectonics, volcanic and sedimentary environments and the evolution of the atmosphere, biosphere, oceans and ore deposits.
Professor Barley is an Associate Member of Pennsylvania University State Astrobiology Research Centre, and is an international member of Canada's NSERC (National Science and Enginering Research Council) Solid Earth Sciences, Grant Selection Committee. Professor Barley was a member of the Steering Committee of the 2003-2005 NASA Astrobiology Drilling Program and in 2001 was awarded a UWA Student Guild: Excellence in Teaching Award for Postgraduate Supervision.
Professor Nathan Bindoff
University of Tasmania
Professor Nathan Bindoff is Professor of Physical Oceanography at the University of Tasmania, and CSIRO Marine Research Laboratories, Director of the Tasmanian Partnership for Advanced Computing and Project Leader of the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre’s Modelling Program. Professor Bindoff is a physical oceanographer, specialising in ocean climate and the earth’s climate system. He was the coordinating lead author for the ocean chapter in the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report.
His current interests are primarily in understanding how the changing ocean can be used to infer changes in atmosphere, and separately the interactions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its eddies. Professor Bindoff has served on 12 international committees, six of which are still current, invited speaker at ten conferences and workshops, co-chaired 2 workshops and was guest editor on two special volumes of Deep Sea Research, and convened Oceans session of the Climate Change Congress, Copenhagen March 2009.
Professor Jonathan Nott
James Cook University
Professor Jonathan Nott is Professor of Geoscience, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University. He has held appointments at Northern Territory University and the Australian National University.
Professor Nott is a Member of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Australian Quaternary Association, National Committee for Quaternary Research Australian Academy of Science.
Professor Nott undertakes research into extreme natural events such as tsunamis and tropical cyclones and specializes in post-event surveys both in Australia and overseas and also reconstructing long-term natural records of these extreme events. These records provide a more realistic guide to the long-term behaviour of these hazards and can be used as a basis for estimating their return intervals and for risk assessment. Prof. Nott has published many articles on these topics in international refereed journals and has provided the first detailed review of the techniques involved in reconstructing these long-term records in his book ‘Extreme Events’ published by Cambridge University Press in 2006.
Professor Aidan Byrne
Australian National University
Professor Byrne completed a BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Auckland before commencing a PhD degree at the ANU in 1981. Following the completion of the degree in Department of Nuclear Physics he held positions with the University of Melbourne and spent over two years in Bonn, Germany as a von Humboldt fellow. He returned to the ANU in 1989 as a Research Fellow and in 1991 commenced a joint appointment between the Department of Physics, in the Faculty of Science and the Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering. He was Head of the Department of Physics from 2003 to 2007. In 2007 Professor Byrne won the Vice Chancellor’s career achievement award.
He is currently the Dean of Science at the ANU and the Director of the ANU College of Physical Sciences.
His research interests involve the use of gamma-rays as probes to determine the structure of heavy nuclei and as probes in the examination of the atomic level structure of materials (especially semiconductors); he has published over 200 papers. Professor Byrne has been an active educator at all levels in the University.
