Professor Geoff Brooks honoured with Distinguished Lecturer award
In Summary
- Professor Geoff Brooks honoured by the Metals, Materials and Minerals Society
- Award recognises contribution to the fields of Nonferrous Extractive and Process Metallurgy
- Professor Brooks has lectured at Swinburne since 2006
Swinburne engineering professor Geoffrey Brooks has won the Metals, Materials and Minerals Society) TMS Extraction and Processing Division Distinguished Lecturer Award for 2018.
The international award acknowledges Professor Brooks’ outstanding contribution to the field of Nonferrous Extractive and Process Metallurgy, as well as his dedication to teaching and building strong industry links.
The award will see him give a lecture at the world’s largest gathering of the materials society, the TMS Annual Conference in 2018.
“I am most humbled to receive this award, particularly when I see the list of the previous winners which contains many of my heroes. I am very grateful for such an honour,” Professor Brooks says.
“I’m also thankful for the skill and good humour of my many students and co-workers, particularly Akbar Rhamdhani and Jamal Naser. I would have never won such an award without their support.”
A passion for teaching
Professor Brooks, who has been lecturing at Swinburne since 2006, has inspired many young engineers and scientists to work in the areas of process metallurgy.
“During my time at Swinburne, I would have delivered lectures to at least two thousand students,” he says.
“I really enjoy being able to share my research interests with others.”
He also presents courses on metallurgy throughout the world.
L-R: Researcher Ben Ekman and Professor Geoff Brooks
Building industry links
Professor Brooks’ research has advanced the fundamental understanding of complex metallurgical processes, such as oxygen steelmaking, aluminium electrolysis, carbothermal magnesium production and more recently solar metallurgy.
He has a strong commitment to forging ties between metal industries and research academic communities, in particular for the training of new generation scientists and engineers in the field of process metallurgy.
Advice for others
When asked what advice he would give to early career researchers, Professor Brooks says:
“You have to be driven by a passion for a topic. You need to believe in your ideas and stick by them. I’ve had some success sticking by what I believe in. It takes a bit of bravery, but until you put your ideas out there, you don’t know what will come from them.”
In 2013, Professor Brooks received the John Elliott Lectureship from the AIST and more recently received research awards with colleagues from the TMS, ASM and the Canadian Metallurgical Society.