Swinburne Professor Leon Sterling appointed REC Chair for ERA 2015
In Summary
Swinburne University of Technology Pro Vice-Chancellor (Digital Frontiers) Professor Leon Sterling has been appointed Research Evaluation Committee (REC) Chair for Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2015 in Mathematics, Information and Computing Sciences.
The appointment was announced by Professor Brian Yates, Acting Chief Executive of the Australian Research Council.
Of the eight REC Chairs announced, Professor Sterling’s appointment is one of only two outside the Group of Eight universities.
“Leon’s appointment acknowledges his strong commitment to, and support of, high quality research across the spectrum from knowledge creation to industry application,” Swinburne Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor George Collins, said.
“It also recognises the national role he plays as an advocate for the training and research needs of Australia’s ICT industry.”
Professor Sterling is responsible for the advancement of teaching and research capacity in information and communication technology areas across Swinburne.
He received a BSc(Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a PhD in Pure Mathematics from the Australian National University. He has worked at universities in the UK, Israel, the US, and Australia.
Professor Sterling's teaching and research specialties are software engineering, artificial intelligence, and logic programming.
Prior to his appointment at Swinburne, he was Professor of Software Innovation and Engineering and Director of e-Research at the University of Melbourne, and Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies at Swinburne. Professor Sterling is immediate Past-President of the Australian Council of Deans of ICT.