Lumen Winter 2016 - Flipbook - Page 34
Alumni on the move
Prestigious award for
aeolian researcher
J
o Nield (BSc 2001, BE 2001, PhD
2006) came to our attention a few
years ago when her out-of-office
email message bounced back with the
response, ‘I am currently off with a laser
scanner searching for dust in the middle
of a salt pan in Botswana.’ When Lumen
enquired further about her fascinating
workplace, Jo said that aside from the
occasional lost ostrich, there was not a
person around for hundreds of kilometres
and her team didn’t receive any visitors
to their field sites in the four months they
were set up to record data.
Jo has just been recognised for her
achievements as an early career researcher
with a prestigious Royal Geographical
Society (RGS) award. Currently an Associate
Professor in Aeolian Geomorphology at
the University of Southampton, Jo has
been named as the recipient of the RGS
Gill Memorial Award for her early career
research into aeolian processes and arid
landform development.
“I feel tremendously humbled and
honoured to receive this award. I am
passionate about aeolian geomorphology
and really enjoy exploring interactions and
feedbacks between wind and surface
patterns through novel field work and
computer simulation modelling,” says Jo.
“I have had the pleasure of working with
some brilliant colleagues and mentors,
and appreciate the support I have
received from ten different funding bodies,
including the RGS. This has enabled me
to undertake research in some incredible
and remote environments to improve our
understanding of arid landscapes and the
processes which shape them.”
Above: Jo Nield doing fieldwork in Namibia
More alumni achievements
Professor Roderick John Lawrence
(B Arch (Hons) 1973) has recently retired
from the University of Geneva with an
Emeritus Professorial title. Roderick
established an international reputation by
developing a unique building construction
laboratory at the University of Lausanne
in Switzerland and later became involved
in environmental science and housing at
the University of Geneva. He has been an
invited Professor at the United Nations
University since 2014.
Professor H. Deep Saini (PhD (Ag + Nat
Res Sc) 1983) has been appointed ViceChancellor of the University of Canberra.
Professor Simon Maddocks (B AgSc
(Hons) 1984, PhD 1987) has been
appointed Chair of the Menzies Foundation
Board. He is also a Menzies Scholar
himself and was one of the first two South
Australians ever to be awarded a Menzies
Scholarship. He is currently the President
and Vice-Chancellor of Charles Darwin
University, a former member of the
Governing Council of the University of
Adelaide and a former Chief Scientist in
South Australia.
32 Lumen | Winter 2016
Paul Lehmann (B Arch St 1991,
LLB 1993) has been appointed High
Commissioner to Nigeria.
Dr Melanie McDowall (B Sc (Hons)
2000, PhD (Med) 2005) from the ARC
Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale
BioPhotonics was a recipient of the 2016
Barbara Kidman Women’s Fellowship.
Dr. Nicole Panizza (B Mus (Hons)
2003) has been awarded two research
fellowships at the University of Oxford –
with the Rothermere American Institute
and the Faculty of Music. Nicole has also
been appointed a Research Associate
with the Oxford Song Network. These
appointments are in support of a five-year
research digital archive project —
focussing on musical settings of the
poetry and letters of renowned American
poet Emily Dickinson.
Dr Rajeev Pathak (PhD (Med) 2015)
was awarded the American College of
Cardiology’s prestigious William W. Parmley
Young Author Achievement Award.
Ben Geytenbeek (BSc (Hons) 2015)
has been awarded a Gates Cambridge
scholarship to undertake a PhD in Physics at
Cambridge where he will be investigating
extensions to the Standard Model of
particle physics to explain phenomena
such as gravity and dark matter.
What’s new with you?
If you have recently celebrated a promotion or career achievement, a change
of job or won a major prize, we’d love to hear about it! Share your good news
with your fellow alumni by emailing us. Please include your name, degree and
graduation year. Send it to alumni@adelaide.edu.au or call +61 8 8313 5800
View more alumni achievements at
www.adelaide.edu.au/alumni/about/on-the-move
