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Director's Message
Dear Colleagues,
I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.
ANU Physics enjoyed plenty of press last week. Firstly, our congratulations go to Dr Vikram Sharma, CEO of ANU spin-out company, Quintessence Labs, on being named 2018 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, joining the likes of Google, Twitter, AirBnB and Spotify.
Vikram completed his PhD with Ping Koy in 2007 and one year after they co-founded QuintessenceLabs, which is now the leading Australian cyber security company setting new standards world-wide.
Professor Daniel Shaddock was in the headlines around the GRACE-FO mission (see EH #71) last week (and managed a little product placement for his spin-off, Liquid Instruments). Daniel lead the team that designed the innovative precision optical path which will transform the measurement accuracy in the Follow-on mission as it maps our subterranean water resources.
Professor Anatoli Kheifets also enjoyed the spot-light with a joint-publication in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4731) which uncovers new details of the timing and orientation of dissociative photoionization in carbon monoxide.
All three announcements are fantastic illustrations of how impactful and long-term our research can be. I encourage students to talk to Ping Koy, Daniel and Anatoli about their careers.
And, good news comes in fours. The architects who lead as through master planning and Stage 1 design, Hassell, have won the highest honour from the Australian Institute of Architects at the 2018 ACT Architecture Awards over the weekend. They were awarded the Canberra Medallion, for their design of the new Australian Federal Police Forensics and Data Centre. The project also won the John Andrews Award for Commercial Architecture. The jury chair, Rob Henry remarked, “The Forensics and Data Centre extracts generosity and openness from a highly sensitive program to engender a collaborative and collegiate workplace and find a welcome ease of fit between organization and built form.”
Please support local Canberra College School student, Keira Joyce and buy a raffle ticket. Keira will be representing Australia at the London International Youth Science Forum in a month’s time. The prizes can be seen in the tea room and tickets are available from Reception.
This week’s pic shows a photo of the founders of Applied Mathematics standing with representatives from almost five decades of occupation. The Cottages will be greatly missed by many.
Finally, we have advertised for a Masters Program Coodinator in Physics and all interested staff are encouraged to apply. Applications close 17 July 2018.
Have a great week,
Tim | 