Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

This week’s pic shows the enormous dedication to education in our School. Last Thursday saw another stellar PEC Planning Day, this time at Mt Stromlo.  My thanks go to all the presenters, spanning a diversity of topics from invaluable student experiences, our defining HDR program to exciting Masters programs commencing next year.  The roll-out of the new undergraduate program is taking full-flight and I feel we should all be very proud of it.  With new opportunities in 1st year Engineering there are plenty of tasks, big and small, and all important.  Please talk to the convenors or to Joe directly about what you can do to help.

This week’s research highlight comes from the Non-Linear Physics Centre, which appeared in Science last Friday, “Quantum metasurface for multiphoton interference and state reconstruction”. This was one of the areas showcased in Professor Yuri Kivshar’s 3-6-9 this year and features the outstanding work of PhD Candidate, Kai Wang, and his supervisor, A/Prof Andrey Sukhorukov, together with Departmental colleagues and collaborators across four countries.

Please don’t forget to nominate people or teams in the School, or ANU, for the Director’s awards.  It’s been a busy year since the last Founder’s Day and there are many people who have stepped up, above and beyond their usual role.  Let’s thank them.

Despite my waggishness about parking at the Town Hall meeting, I am eager to hear for ‘out of the box’ alternatives to working at RSPE, and particularly if noise becomes very disruptive.   Unfortunately, parking will continue to be dreadfully constrained until we execute the proposed temporary park in between the Gardening Depot and Nuclear Physics.  Negotiations are ongoing.  In the meantime, I suggest you explore using the Arboretum bus.  I spoke with F&S about running a schedule better suited those with school-aged children, including the possibility of allowing children to ride in the bus as well.  I got a very positive response and it all comes down to the number of people interested in this service.  If you think you might benefit from this service, could you please contact Andrea Butler, register your interest and preferred schedule.

Have a good week,

Tim

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The next packed lunch session will be held at the RN Robertson bldg, Tuesday 18th September 2018. There is no set agenda, but an opportunity for the College of Science staff to interact with the VC . Register below.

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The inaugural Science as you see it! photography competition, open to ANU alumni, current staff and students, will showcase each of our 12 research areas through your photographs. Selected photos will feature in the science, medicine and health annual calendar. Applications close 17 September 2018.

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IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lecture - Convergence of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Perspectives in Biomedicine: Innovative Ways to Fight Cancer - Professor Larry Nagahara

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HDR Mentoring Program

The HDR student representatives are starting a mentoring program for HDR students across RSPE! We hope this mentoring program will give HDR candidates the opportunity to provide support for each other, develop skills and expand student networks across the research school. For anyone interested in participating, please respond to the below google forms survey by 28th September.

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The Women in STEM Decadal Plan for enhancing the participation and retention of girls and women in STEM will be developed by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) and the Australian Academy of Science. Get involved, see below or send ideas to vince.craig@anu.edu.au

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Dr Mary Gray has developed resources for researchers to plan and strategise their approach to research funding. The resources include a seminar, funder list and planner (contains ARC and NHMRC information side-by-side), research pitching templates for idea creation and peer review, and a strategic checklist for self or peer review of draft proposals, see below.

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25th International Physics Summer School

The 25th International Physics Summer School on “The Invisible Universe” will be hosted by the Research School of Physics at the Australian National University in Canberra over the two weeks January 14-25th, 2019. 

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Departmental Seminars

18 Sept 2018
Dr John Helm
Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, Department of Physics, University of Otago
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18 Sept 2018
Dr Aidan Brooks
A+: a medium scale upgrade to Advanced LIGO
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19 Sept 2018
Mr Joshua Butson
III-V Semiconductor Alloys for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
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20 Sept 2018
Dr Peter J Riggs
Interstellar Journeys: Within a Human Lifetime: Possibilities and Practicalities
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21 Sept 2018
Mr Parvathala Narangari
Investigation of Top-down Fabricated III-V Semiconductor Nanostructures for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation
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