Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

It’s a great pleasure to congratulate Shridhar Manjunath’s (EME/TMOS) recent award of a Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship by the international society for optics and photonics (SPIE). There is a great TMOS article on where Shridhar’s inspiration comes from.

Last week the four Australian nuclear agencies came together in our auditorium to promote careers in the Commonwealth to graduates from across ANU. Representatives from ARPANSA, ANSO, ARWA and ANSTO all gave inspiring insights into where science can take graduates, followed by a social mixer. My gratitude goes to Dr AJ Mitchell (seen below) for coordinating with his colleagues across these agencies and for making it such an enjoyable evening for all.

I’m so pleased at the list of projects for our first run of Kinetic, an ANU-wide competition run out of Physics to identify early-stage innovators. We’ve uncovered 26 great teams. See the full list here, or register to be one of the voters here and to see more project details. This next phase needs you! The ANU community can vote on their favourite projects. The top 12 projects will then get specialised pitch training before going into the final round. I’m thrilled to see the diversity of ideas presented in Kinetic, and grateful to the MakerSpace team for being a critical part of this program. I love seeing Physics engaged at all levels across the ANU.

The top pic this week goes to a PRL paper from NPAA that was featured in the American Physical Society Physics magazine last week. Together with a collaborator from the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University the NPAA team found evidence of an exotic “sixth-order” electromagnetic transition in the gamma-ray emission of 53mFe, a result that could pave the way for new ways to test nuclear models.

Finally, applications for the Department of Education’s Australia Economic Accelerator Seed Grants Tranche 2 have opened and will close at 5:00pm on Friday 5 May 2023. Please speak to CoS Research Management team for more details.

Have a great (short) week, and a relaxing Easter break.
Tim

2023 ANU Women in STEM Conference - Keynote Address

Date: 1-2:30pm, Monday 3 April 2023 
Location: Shine Dome 15 Gordon St, Acton

The 2023 ANU Women* in STEM Leadership Conference is honoured to have the Chief Executive of the Australian Academy of Science, Anna-Maria Arabia, as this years keynote speaker. Anna-Maria is a passionate advocate for science, social justice and gender equity. She will be speaking about leadership, equity and intersectionality within STEM, highlighting her own journey.

Register

HDR Welcome To ANU - Mon 3 April - Thurs 6 April

All new HDR candidates are invited to attend the HDR new candidate induction.

This is a jam-packed week of face to face event and workshops designed to get your HDR candidature off to a great start.

New ANU HDR Candidates can register here. 

• The College of Science & College of Health & Medicine will hold a joint event on Monday 03 April @ 1.30pm – please register via EventBrite.
   
• Our School induction is on Tuesday 4 April at 1.30 pm – a separate calendar invite has been sent to the new HDR starters and their supervisors.

» read more

Scholarship AINSE ANSTO French Embassies (SAAFE) - Applications Now Open

Applications for the 2023 round of the SAAFE (Scholarship AINSE ANSTO French Embassies) Program are open until July 1st 2023. Postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers may be eligible to apply for international travel in the period 1st October 2023 – 31st December 2024.

For more information see the SAAFE online flyer or AINSE website.

» read more

Australian Academy of Science | Call for Fellowship Candidates from Diverse Backgrounds

Each year, the Australian Academy of Science (the Academy) invites leaders in STEM across Australia, to assist to celebrate and support diversity in all its forms (including but not limited to gender, cultural, and age diversity). This year, President Professor Chennupati Jagadish once again strongly encourages you to recommend candidates with diverse backgrounds who can be nominated for Fellowship of the Academy.

» read more

Saturday the 2nd of April was World Autism Awareness day. Autism or ASD is one of a number of conditions including Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder that fall under the banner of Neurodiversity.

» read more

Department of Education’s AEA Seed Grants Tranche 2 - Applications Now Open

The Department of Education have opened the call for submissions to Tranche 2 of the Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Seed Grants which will close 5:00 pm (AEST) on Friday 5 May 2023.

All documentation for this grant opportunity is available on The Department of Education’s website.

» read more

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science

The For Women in Science (FWIS) program was founded in 1998 with a simple aim; to ensure that women are fairly represented at all levels in science.

For its sixth year, L'Oréal Australia and New Zealand will connect the current L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellows with passionate and ambitious female PhD students as part of their mentoring scheme.

We are pleased to let you know that the 2023 applications for the mentoring scheme are now open through our website – www.forwomeninscience.com.au.

Applications will be closing soon at 11.59pm Friday 28th April 2023 (AEDT).  

» read more

The Climate Comedy Course, Sustainable Stand Up, is back (in Canberra hybrid, but online for the whole country)!! Course starts Thursday 6 April.

We’re looking for 7 brave, lovely people who are currently researching/working in some aspect of environmental protection, climate action, or social change, and who want to explore how compassionate humour could:

~ expand and deepen how they think of their issues, and
~ increase the impact of how they communicate about those issues.

» read more

Physicists More Certain Than Heisenberg

In a string of accurate quantum experiments, physicists have violated Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle – one of the icons of quantum weirdness, with its counter-intuitive statement that all measurements are essentially fuzzy and cannot be improved beyond a certain limit.

When Heisenberg first proposed the Uncertainty Principle nearly a century ago, it seemed to be merely a curiosity, as technology at that time was nowhere near sensitive enough to challenge quantum limits. 

» read more

Janet Elspeth Crawford Postgraduate Leadership Prize for 2023

Nominations due by 17 April 2023

We are calling for nominations for the Janet Elspeth Crawford Postgraduate Leadership Prize for 2023. 

The objective/s of the prize are to recognise a postgraduate student who has demonstrated significant leadership and outstanding academic achievement. Available each year to a student who is enrolled in or has completed a program leading to the award of a Graduate Coursework Degree or Higher Degree by Research in the ANU College of Science. 

» read more

2023 Wall Planners

ANU Industry Engagement for Researchers - Community of Practice

All are welcome to join. We meet virtually on Microsoft Teams, from 1:30 – 2:30pm on the fourth Monday of the month.

» read more

EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Dr Kasimir P Gregory - 5 April
Nonaqueous electrolytes in two-dimensions & Modelling the thermodiffusion of lone cations and anions in dilute aqueous solutions
» read more

School Seminar Program - 4 April

Energy dissipation outside the capture barrier: rethinking our picture of nuclear fusion - Dr Kaitlin Cook

» read more

College of Science 'Town Hall' - 5 April

Wednesday 5 April, 2.30-3.30pm
Manning Clark Hall Cultural Centre, Kambri

» read more

Unique Student Identifiers (USI) - HDR Students

A number of students have recently received emails regarding Unique Student Identifiers (USI).

» read more