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Dr Tim Schmidt 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.

Researchers from the Crossley and Schmidt Groups 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

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.

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. The School congratulates the following members of the School for their successful projects:

ARC Discovery Grants

Professor Maxwell Crossley, FAA – Tailored Porphyrins for Nanoscience Applications

Professor Trevor Hambley & A/Professor Michael Kassiou – Radiolabelled MMP Binding Agents for the Identification, Quantification, and Targeting of MMPs in Central Nervous System (CNS) Disorders and Tumours

Professor Scott Kable with Prof J Bowman & Dr D Osborn- Roaming around the Transition State: A New Mechanism of Chemical Reactions

Professor Brendan Kennedy – Complex Phenomena and Phase Transitions in Ferroric Perovskites

Professor Cameron Kepert, with Professor K Murray, Professor J Letard & Professor P Steel, - Spin Switching in Nanoporous, Nanomolecular and Multifunctional Hybrid Systems

Professor Peter Lay, FAA – Design and Mechanistic Studies of Metal-Based Anti-Diabetic Drugs

Dr Chiara Neto with Professor J Gamble – New Surfaces for the Control of Endothelial Cell Function: Application in the Design of Biocompatible Stents.

Dr Richard Payne with A/Professor M Stone – Solid-phase Synthesis of Sulfopeptides for Evaluation of Chemokine-receptor Recognition

A/Professor Sebastien Perrier – New Polymers for Cellulose-based Bioplastics

Professor Leo Radom, FAA – Hydrogen Bonding, Hydrogen Transfer, Hydrogenation and Hydrogenolysis: A Computational Quantum Chemistry Investigation

ARC Linkage Grant

A/Prof Brian S Hawkett, A/Prof James K Beattie and Dr Chiara Neto, with Dr Jeffrey Gore - Inhibition of Spontaneous Detonations of Explosive Emulsions in Hot and Reactive Grounds

The School warmly congratulates 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.

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer awarded a Future Fellowship by the Australian Research Council

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer 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.

Professor Cameron Kepert awarded the 2009 Royal Society of Chemistry Australasian Lectureship

Professor Cameron Kepert has been awarded 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

Professor Scott Kable has been awarded a 2009 Fulbright Senior Scholarship to undertake research into ultra-fast photochemistry at the University of Wisconsin. See the Fulbright website for full detail

Research from the group headed by Professor Jeff Reimers soon to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that high temperatures are required for the formation of coherent Fröhlich condensates, temperatures too high to occur in a biological setting. This makes these condensates unlikely to play a role in consciousness, as proposed by the model of quantum consciousness put forward by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff. For more information, visit of the PhysOrg.com website.

The School is saddened by the passing of Professor Hans Freeman and Professor Wal Taylor.

Hans passed away on 9 November 2008. He was a member of the academic staff from 1950, completing his PhD in 1957, and was Professor of Inorganic Chemistry from 1971 until his retirement in 1997.  He was a pioneer in structural biology, and in the application of synchrotron and neutron beam science to chemical and biochemical problems.  Hans remained active in research well after his retirement, and retained a keen interest in the School of Chemistry, especially through the Chemistry 1 Special Studies laboratory program and the Foundation for Inorganic Chemistry which he established, with Alex Boden, shortly after his appointment as Professor. 

Wal passed away on 1 January 2009. He made major contributions to the field of natural products chemistry in Australia and South East Asia. After graduate studies in Manchester, he returned to the University of Sydney in 1958. Starting with a study on the antibacterial properties of mangosteens some 30 years ago, his work in establishing research in Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam into the chemical basis of traditional medicines earned him awards and honours. Among these were the UNESCO Einstein Silver Medal (1994), the Order of Australia Medal (1996) and the Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop Asia Medal (1997). An obituary remembering the life and significant scientific contributions made by him appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Emeritus Professor Len Lindoy has been awarded 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.

Len has also been awarded the RSC Centenary Lectureship and Medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry UK for 2009 - 2010 for his wide ranging and important contributions to coordination chemistry, ligand design and supramolecular chemistry.