Staff Bulletin - Sarawak edition
Welcome to the latest editon of the Sarawak Staff Bulletin.
Scroll down to find out the latest news and events from around Swinburne.
Stories from the Sarawak campus will also be included in the twice-weekly Melbourne Staff Bulletin. Story suggestions for both editions can be sent to staffcomms@swin.edu.au.
Making news this month:
Thursday 2 November 2011
- VC’s blog: More research accolades
- Higher Ground blog: The Steve Jobs legacy
- Portrait of former VC Ian Young unveiled
- Nature's laws may vary across the Universe
- NHMRC grant for micro-photonics research
- Networking lab launched
- Clean sweep for forensics
VC’s blog: More research accolades
In her latest blog post, Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson reflects on her ‘visit’ to the Keck telescope, which is one of the world’s largest and most powerful optical telescopes.
Swinburne's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing is privileged to have access to the Keck for up to 20 nights a year.
She also discusses Swinburne’s inclusion in the Times Higher Education University World Rankings 2011-2012 top 400 universities in the world.
Read the VC’s blog.
Higher Ground blog: The Steve Jobs legacy
In her blog post last month, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Shirley Leitch, reflected on the significant contributions of the late Steve Jobs, American inventor and businessman.
Shirley shares her personal experience with Apple products, arguing our daily challenge as educators is to realise the potential of technologies we could not have imagined when we were students.
She says she is particularly excited to see how we utilise new technologies at Swinburne into the future.
Guest blogger, University Professor of Industry Engaged Learning, Mike Clements, also contibutes a blog post this month. He shares his journey from the military to business and beyond.
Read the Higher Ground blog.
Portrait of former VC Ian Young unveiled
An oil portrait of former Swinburne Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young was unveiled on Friday 21 October.
Painted by contemporary Australian artist Josonia Palaitis, it measures 130cm x 90cm.
The portrait was commissioned when Ian left Swinburne in March this year to take up his new position as Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra.
Josonia said she only had two face to face meetings with Ian and took photos as a reference for the painting. She worked on the canvas for about four and a half months.
Nature's laws may vary across the Universe
One of the most cherished principles in science - the constancy of physics - may not be true, according to research carried out by a team of researchers from Swinburne and two other Australian universities.
The study found that one of the four known fundamental forces, electromagnetism - measured by the so-called fine-structure constant and denoted by the symbol ‘alpha' - seems to vary across the Universe.
The first hints that alpha might not be constant came a decade ago when Australian researchers analysed observations from the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Those observations were restricted to one broad area in the sky.
Now the research team – which includes Swinburne’s Dr Michael Murphy - has made significant progress in the area.
NHMRC grant for micro-photonics research
Swinburne has been awarded over A$620,000 by the Australian government through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding scheme.
The grant will support research led by Professor Sarah Russell (pictured) from the Centre for Micro-Photonics. Sarah is researching asymmetric cell division in T cell development, in the hope it will provide vital clues to autoimmune diseases and cancer.
The grant is part of a A$673 million package to support health and medical research in Australia.
Read more about Sarah's research in the Swinburne Magazine and view a full list of grants on the NHMRC website.
Networking lab launched
More than 70 industry professionals attended the launch of a state-of-the-art networking laboratory at the Hawthorn campus last month.
Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies Professor Leon Sterling said the university now offers the best networking laboratory in Australia.
Located in the Advanced Technologies Centre, the lab is a dedicated facility for students to learn and research networking technologies, and undertake Cisco-certified training programs.
The lab allows students to dynamically connect various computers within the room to different physical networking devices through the use of virtual networks.
Every student has individual access to one kit of equipment (four routers and four switches) during each session, as well as remote access to enable self-paced learning.
Clean sweep for forensics
Forensic Psychology is a relatively new area of study within Swinburne, but already there have been two notable achievements in this field.
Senior lecturer Jeff Pfeifer has been awarded the Best Paper Prize by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) College of Forensic Psychologists for his presentation at their recent national conference. The paper was entitled, Good Athletes/Bad Decisions: Examining the Cognitive & Social Factors Related to Offending Behaviours.
At the recent 2011 APS College of Forensic Psychologists Student Research Day, Natasha Katopodis, a postgraduate student, was also awarded the Best Paper Prize for her presentation. Her paper was entitled, Empathy in Action: Trait Empathy and Behavioural Outcomes in Jury Decision Making (co-authored by Jeff Pfeifer and Elizabeth Hardie).
View further information about Forensic Psychology at Swinburne.
