News
John Ralston named South Australian of The Year
Laureate Professor John Ralston, Director of the Ian Wark
Research Institute (The Wark*) was named South Australian
of The Year at the 2007 SA Great Awards held on 28 November
2007 at the Hyatt Regency, Adelaide. The award, presented
by His Excellency the Governor of South Australia, Rear Admiral
Kevin Scarce, recognises an outstanding contribution to the
state.
John is the founding director of The Wark and Professor of
Physical Chemistry and Minerals Processing. Since its inception
in 1994, The Wark has grown to over 160 staff and postgraduate
students with an annual operating budget of approximately
$20M.
http://www.unisa.edu.au/iwri/
Nature rewards excellent scientific mentors in Australasia
The inaugural winner of Nature's lifetime achievement award
for mentoring in Australasian science, Tom Healy, is an
example of a person who not only mentors his own students,
he also succeeds in mentoring an entire field of science,
said one of his nominators. Australian colloid and surface
science is ranked among the best in the world, thanks in large
part to Healy. Tom was selected from a total of 74 high-quality
nominations.
A feature of Healy's legacy is a student conference that
he helped to establish nearly 40 years ago to enable young
researchers in the field to network with their peers.
Healy's main interests lie in colloid research - the study
of particles in a dispersed medium, such as sludge, slimes,
aerosols or emulsions - research that is being applied in
many areas, not least in the mining industry for the frugal
use of water, an important issue in drought-prone Australia.
This has taken his mentoring beyond traditional boundaries
- bringing industry, government and academia together to solve
practical issues.
Tom received his award from the Dr Nick Campbell (Assistant
Publisher, Nature Asia-Pacific) at a ceremony in Melbourne
on Friday 1 December 2006. Tom will be profiled in an upcoming
issue of Nature.
Further details, profiles and photos at www.scienceinpublic.com
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