Achievements
2007
2008
2009
The School congratulates the following people:
- Dr Chiara Neto, whose recently published article On the superhydrophobic properties of nickel nanocarpets in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics has been highlighted on ABC Science Online: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/11/16/2741961.htm
- PhD students Mark Hackett, Dominik Konkolowicz and Stephen Butler who have been awarded the 2009 Le Fèvre Lecturerships. These Lectures will be presented at the 648th meeting of the Sydney University Chemical Society on Wednesday 18th November 2009 in Le Fèvre Lecture Theatre 4.
- Researchers from the Crossley and Schmidt Groups who have come up with an ingenious low-cost device to harvest low energy photons that are currently unused by solar cells. For more information, click here. Their research has been published in the latest issue of the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics: On the efficiency limit of triplet–triplet annihilation for photochemical upconversion, Yuen Yap Cheng, Tony Khoury, Raphaël G. C. R. Clady, Murad J. Y. Tayebjee, N. J. Ekins-Daukes, Maxwell J. Crossley and Timothy W. Schmidt, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b913243k
- Dr Tim Schmidt who has been selected the Coblentz Award recipient for 2010. The Coblentz Award is presented annually to an outstanding young molecular spectroscopist under the age of 36. The Award is presented and the Coblentz Award Lecture is delivered each June at the Ohio State University International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy.
- Ms Jenny Zhang, Postgraduate Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate, who has been awarded the Australia-Israel Scientific Exchange Foundation Postgraduate Fellowship for 2010. Jenny will undertake research at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, School of Pharmacy, The Hebrew University, Israel. Jenny has also received the following 2009 Grant-in-Aid Scholarships:- The William and Catherine McIlrath Scholarship; R & M Bentwich Scholarship and the Kenneth Firth Vickery Scholarship.
- Mr Patryck Allen, Postgraduate Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate, who received the Asian Crystallographic Association Rising Star Award. This award selects students to present their work in a special plenary session at the Joint Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association and Chinese Crystallographic Society. Further, Pat received a International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) Travel Grant worth USD$800.
- The School has again performed exceptionally well in the recently announced ARC Discovery Grant outcomes, with a success rate of 44% which is almost double the overall national success rate of 22.7%. We also had one successful Linkage Project, equating to a 50% success rate (44.9% nationally). The total funding awarded is $4.9 million.
- Associate Professor Sébastien Perrier and Dr Tim Schmidt have become the School's latest Young Tall Poppy Science awardees. These prestigious Awards aim to recognise the achievements of Australia's outstanding young scientific researchers and communicators and are the initiative of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. Our previous Award holders include Professor Thomas Maschmeyer, Professor Kate Jolliffe and Dr Peter Rutledge.
- Postdoctoral Fellow and PhD graduate, Dr Jack Clegg, who has been awarded the University's 2009 Convocation Medal. This prestigious award is presented to an outstanding recent graduate who has also contributed exceptionally to the life of the University. This follows upon the award of the Medal to Honours graduate Andrew McLeod in 2008.
- PhD candidate Alexandra Manos-Turvey who was one of 25 nominees for the 2009 Convocation Medal.
- Professor Thomas Maschmeyer who has been awarded a Future Fellowship for his project Sustainable Solar Hydrogen Production from Waste Water. The role of the ARC Future Fellowship scheme is to promote research in areas of critical national importance by giving outstanding researchers incentives to conduct their research in Australia. It aims to attract and retain the best and brightest mid-career researchers. Project Summary: The world energy demand, expected to triple by 2100, must be met from sustainable and non-polluting sources. Sunlight is the largest available carbon-neutral energy source, with enough energy striking the planet in one hour to satisfy our current requirements for about a year. With the novel catalysts designed in this project, we will use this energy to simultaneously generate hydrogen and destroy organic pollutants by oxidation. The hydrogen can then be used as a clean source of sustainable energy and the water recycled. Our climate, proximity to major economies of the future, and long commercial and research experience in solar energy make Australia an ideal location for a hydrogen production industry.
- PhD student Connie Liu, on her award of an AINSE top-up scholarship.
- PhD student, Sören Wohlthat, who received the poster prize at the Australasian Molecular Modelling Association Conference held at the Gold Coast in July.
- PhD student, Liz Fellows, who won the best poster prize at CRYSTAL 26, the 26th Biennial Conference of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand, in Barossa, South Australia, in April 2009.
- Professor Leo Radom, who presented the 2009 Löwdin Lectures at Uppsala University in Sweden.
- PhD student and Postgraduate Fellow, Dominik Konkolewicz, who was one of the 5 Australian research students who were invited to attend the HOPE 2009 meeting in Hakone, Japan.
- Dr Chiara Neto and her co-investigator Andrew Harris (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) for their award of a Seeding Grant from the University of Sydney Institute for Sustainable Solutions on “Sustainable water for Australian cities.” -$104,590.
- Recent PhD graduate, Dr Paul Saines, on his award of the AINSE Gold Medal.
- PhD student, Robert O'Reilly, who has been awarded the 2009 Postgraduate Research Prize for outstanding academic achievement in chemistry.
- PhD students, Elizabeth Fellows and Jess Chadbourne for winning the student poster prizes at the Crystal-26 SCANZ 2009 conference.
- PhD student, Althea Tsang, who was selected as one of the two Highly Commended awardees of the 2009 Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Western Sydney Section Honours Prize. Althea will give a talk on her Honours project at a presentation ceremony at the University of Western Sydney.
- Dr Toby Hudson and co-investigator, A/Prof. Michael Wheatland (Physics, USyd) on their award of a SciFER grant. Titled: Subject retention rates in physics and chemistry - $2 500.
- Professor Cameron Kepert on his award of the 2009 Royal Society of Chemistry Australasian Lectureship. This Lectureship is awarded every two years by the RSC (UK) and allows the recipient to give a series of research lectures at universities across Australia and New Zealand.
- PhD student, Nat Yamamoto, on her award of a DAAD Scholarship by the German Government to spend 6 months undertaking research at Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum.
- Professor Scott Kable on his award of a 2009 Fulbright Senior Scholarship to undertake research into ultra-fast photochemistry at the University of Wisconsin.
- Dr Tim Schmidt on his award of the inaugural Physical Chemistry Division Lectureship of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Tim will be delivering a series of lectures across Australia.
- Emeritus Professor Len Lindoy on his award of the 2009 Craig Medal by the Australian Academy of Science. The David Craig Medal recognises the outstanding contribution to chemical research of Emeritus Professor David Craig, AC, FAA, FRS. Its purpose is to recognise contributions of a high order to any branch of chemistry by active researchers. The award is made annually. This follows the award of the 2008 Medal to Professor Leo Radom and the 2007 Medal to the late Professor Hans Freeman.
- Emeritus Professor Len Lindoy on his award by the Royal Society of Chemistry UK of an RSC Centenary Lectureship and Medal for 2009 - 2010 for his wide ranging and important contributions to coordination chemistry, ligand design and supramolecular chemistry.
- PhD student, Nahid Chalyavi, on her award of an Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship for 2008 - 2010 by the Australian Government.
- PhD student, Andrew Telford, on his award of a University of Sydney International Student Scholarship and a CSIRO Flagship top-up scholarship for 2008 - 2010.
