Message to Alumni from Dr Megan Clark

Message to Alumni from
Dr Megan Clark
Chief Executive CSIRO

Quarterly Highlights

This has been a period of many highlights and this note only points to a few.

Food, Health, Life Science Industries Group

A Food Futures' project has confirmed that significant increases in oil production are possible in seeds and leaves of oilseed plants. This makes leaves a possible oil storage organ. A commercialisation strategy is underway.

A major breakthrough has been made by Plant Industry scientists involving the role of plant mitochondria (the energy factory of the cell) in plant defence against pathogens. The discovery has provided new targets for regulating plant responses to disease.

Further to our successful prawn breeding program in Food Futures, Nigel Preston's team has licensed a new prawn feed (Novacq) to a Vietnamese company and extremely positive prawn growth results have been achieved. We are discussing potential commercialisation with other partnerships.

Energy Group

The Energy Group is coordinating two major contributions to CSIRO's strategic priority of ‘building the capacity of Flagships to deliver integrated solutions to complex problems at the intersection of natural and human systems'. Integrated Carbon Pathways aims to build a world leading integrated capability for developing low-carbon transition scenarios for Australia that cover energy, sustainable biomass, bio-sequestration, food, water and population. Ocean and Coastal Information and Assessment Services aims to develop an interoperable system of data streams, models and web-based information services which will effectively become the ‘national oceans model' needed to more effectively underpin coastal and off-shore development.

Information Sciences Group

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) project with a revised scope and budget of $152.45m has been endorsed by the Minister. Implementation of the new plan started in October with staff and stakeholder engagement. Planning has started on equipping the Parkes Observatory with technology that supports remote operation, similar to Mopra.

Work is underway to close the CSIRO Macquarie University site and transfer our 53 CMIS people to our nearby North Ryde Riverside site by 30 June 2012. This move will foster greater collaboration and integration of CMIS with CFNS and CMSE and the Energy portfolio.

Environment Group

The global launch of the Resource Efficiency: Economics & Outlook UNEP Resource Use Asia Pacific I Latin America reports took place on 27 September in Canberra. The reports, led by CSIRO's Heinz Schandl, review resource use patterns and resource efficiency trends and policy implications.

CSIRO, Science and Industry Endowment Fund, the Federal Department of Sustainability Environment Water Population and Communities, Bioplatforms Australia and the Department of Environment and Conservation in WA will co-fund the $3 million Biomes of Australian Soil Environments project over two years to explore and map Australia's soil biodiversity using new environmental genomics approaches.

On 3 November, I was pleased to launch our new book on water. Water: Science and Solutions for Australia was written to help inform business, government, and the community about the importance of water as a matter of significant economic, environmental and social concern in Australia.

Manufacturing, Materials and Minerals Group

The third successful Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium project was launched by Minister Martin Ferguson and Minister Michael O'Brien, the State Minister for Energy and Resources. Other consortium members include The University of Melbourne, Monash University, Securency International, Innovia Films (UK), Robert Bosch (SEA), Bluescope and CSIRO. This consortium is developing low-cost solar cells for building integrated applications.

CSIRO has reached agreement on the commercialisation of CSIRO UltraPS particle size measurement technology with Thermo Fisher, a global laboratory equipment and services company.

John Rankin's book Minerals, Metals and Sustainability: Meeting future material needs was released in September. John is presenting two-day short courses internally and externally.

Our people – awards

Like you, I am very proud of how, every day, our colleagues strive to make a positive impact on the things that matter to this nation. Here are some of the achievements of our people:

• John Arkwright (CMSE) along with Dr Philip Dinning of Flinders University received the ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology and Voytek Gutowski (CMSE) was awarded the Rio Tinto Eureka Prize for Commercialisation of Innovation. Thilak Gunatillake, Matthew Hill, Stuart Gordon, Stuart Lucas, Geoffrey Naylor and Nicole Phair-Sorensen were also Eureka finalists this year for individual or team awards.
• Martyn Jeggo, Director of AAHL, received the UN Food and Agriculture Organization medal for his seminal contribution to the campaign to rid the world of rinderpest or cattle plague.
• Our 2011 Newton Turner Awards were awarded to Lev Bodrossy (CMAR), Saul Cunningham (CES), Simon Ferrier (CES), Greg Foliente (CES), Paul Fraser (CMAR), Mark Gibson (CPSE), Baerbel Koribalski (CASS), Peter Molloy (CFNS) and Alan Richardson (CPI).
• Warwick Stiller (CPI) was awarded the Australian Cotton Industry's Researcher of the Year 2011 in recognition of his contribution to improvements in cotton production.
• Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) Postdoctoral Fellowships have been awarded to Caroline Bull (FNS), Bi-Qing For (CASS), Hannah Lomas (CMSE), Navid Nourani-Vatani (ICT), Kaikai Shen (ICTC), Robert Thorne (CESRE). Recipients of the Postgraduate Scholarships are Ashley Jones (CPI), Vikram Ravi (CASS), Aaron Song (CMSE).
  
• Eve McDonald-Madden (CES and the University of Queensland) was recognised for her achievements in conservation decision making with a $20 000 L'Oreal Australia Women in Science Fellowship.
  
• Tara Martin (CES) won the Outstanding Woman in Technology 2011 Biotech Research Award for her work on conservation strategies.
  
• Ian Galbally (CASS) has received the Clean Air Medal, the highest recognition from the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand for his service to air quality science.
  
• George Hobbes was named a Young Tall Poppy recipient in NSW, and Matthew Hill won the Victorian Young Tall Poppy award, with Fiona Scholes one of the six finalists.
  
• The Maia synchrotron x-ray fluorescence imaging system has been awarded the 2011 Victorian state iAward for R&D.
  
• Stephen Giugni, previously GM of the ICTC's National Security Technologies program, commenced as Deputy Director of the Minerals Down Under Flagship on 1 November. CSIRO Fellow.
  
• Ezio Rizzardo (CMSE) and alumnus Professorial Fellow David Solomon, from the University of Melbourne, were jointly awarded the 2011 Prime Minister's Prize for Science for their role in revolutionising polymer science.
  
• Dr Tara Martin (CES) received Queensland's Outstanding Woman in Technology 2011 Biotech Research Award n recognition of her achievements in analysing ecological data.
  
• Dr Brian Boyle (SKA) was a member of one of the teams whose work on the discovery of Dark Energy was recognised when Perlmutter, Schmidt and Reiss were awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize.
  
• Katie Green (FM Flagship) was awarded the Australian Optical Society's (AOS) 2010 Technical Optics Award for outstanding technical ability in precision optics.
  
• Angela Colliver (CSIRO Education) has won the 2011 New South Wales Educator of the Year Award for her outstanding contributions to increasing environmental awareness among school children.
  
• Richard Evans, Nino Malic, Mark York, Kirsty Cleland (Advanced Polymerik) were awarded the CRC-Polymers Chairman's Award for Excellence in Commercialization.
  
• Ian Batey (Retired CPI) received the Guthrie Medal 2011, Australia's highest honour for cereal science.
  
• Calum Drummond, received a Distinguished Lectureship Award from The Chemical Society of Japan for his global standing in colloid and surface chemistry.
  
• Miao Chen was appointed Visiting Professor at Central South University (CSU). Miao is an Office of the Chief Executive Science Leader in electrochemistry, surface characterisation, colloid chemistry.
  
• There was great success for CSIRO at the Northern Territory (NT) Research and Innovation Awards 2011. Anna Richards (CES) won the New Generation category for the best contribution to research and innovation for a researcher under 35 years and the Young Tall Poppy Science Award, based on her work on soil carbon. Gary Bastin (CES) won the Desert Knowledge Research Award for his leading work with the Australian Collaborative Rangelands Information System (ACRIS).
  
• Naomi McSweeney (CLW) PhD student has been awarded the Inaugural Australasian Industrial Research Group (AIRG) Medal for research that is helping Alcoa reduce its energy use.

Announcing a new Division

A joint Livestock Industries and Food and Nutritional Sciences team has been working for some months looking at implications for those divisions in the light of contemporary biological science. The outcome being unanimous agreement which has been approved bythe CSIRO Executive Team and the Board that the Divisions of Livestock Industries and Food and Nutritional Sciences be merged to form one Division with a strong animal, human microbial life sciences focus. Dr Martin Cole will be appointed to the position of Chief of the new Division, the name of which has yet to be decided.Our intention is that the Division will commence formally on 1 July 2012.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish our Alumni and their families a safe and happy festive season.

Best regards,

Dr Megan Clark
Chief Executive
CSIRO