6 August 2008
6 August 2008
From Monday 18 August to Friday 19 September, Monash University will celebrate the great minds and innovative thinking that generates leading-edge research, through Monash Research Month.
Over the past 50 years, Monash researchers have been the driving force behind innovations that have impacted on millions around the world. Monash researchers have created lives, saved them, and improved their quality with innovations such as IVF and anti-flu drug Relenza.
Research Month was established last year to celebrate research achievements, recognise the significant contributions made by staff and research students, and to show the wider community why research matters.
During Monash Research Month celebrate and discover the University's solid contribution to communities in Australia and around the world and research for yourself how you can contribute too.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said she was proud of the quality and impact of the University's research.
"When Monash was created 50 years ago its vision was to be a first class research university," Professor Cornish said.
"More than that, it would be a university that reached out, engaged with its community and made a difference to Australian industry."
"Research Month allows us to share our achievements. We don't want the knowledge we create to remain locked up."
"We want it to have an affect on the lives of Australians and people around the world."
A wide range of events and programs have been developed for Research Month, including:To find out more about research at Monash University or to register for one of the many events on offer, visit the Research Matters website.
6 August 2008
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| Flexible fuel cell. Photo courtesy Julie Fraser, Faculty of Engineering |
Monash University scientists have revolutionised the design of fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid cars, which could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to build.
The breakthrough involves the design of an electricity-generating fuel cell in which a specially-coated form of popular high-tech outdoor and sporting clothing material Goretex® is the key component.
The team of Monash scientists have designed and tested an air-electrode, where a fine layer -- just 0.4 of a micron thick, or about 100 times thinner than a human hair -- of highly conductive plastic is deposited on the breathable fabric. The conductive plastic acts as both the fuel cell electrode and catalyst.
Monash University's Dr Bjorn Winther-Jensen said just as Goretex® had revolutionised the outdoor clothing industry, it could hold similar promise for manufacturers of dual-fuel cars.
"The same way as waste vapour is drawn out of this material to make hikers more comfortable and less prone to hypothermia, so it is able to 'breathe' oxygen into our fuel cell and into contact with the conductive plastic," Dr Winther-Jensen said.
Monash University's Professor Doug MacFarlane from the Australian Centre for Electromaterials Science (ACES) said the discovery was probably the most important development in fuel cell technology in the last 20 years.
"The new design removes the need for platinum, which acts as the catalyst and is currently central to the manufacturing process," Professor MacFarlane said. "Our reliance on platinum is making the likelihood of using fuel cells in everyday passenger cars, increasingly improbable.
"The cost of the platinum component alone of current fuel cells for a small car with a 100kW electric engine is more than the total cost of an 100kW gasoline engine. Also current annual world production of platinum is only sufficient for about three million 100kW vehicles, less than one-twentieth of the current annual global production of vehicles."
The new design fuel cell has been tested for periods of up to 1500 hours continuously using hydrogen as the fuel source. Testing has shown no sign of material degradation or deterioration in performance.
Associate Director of ACES Professor Maria Forsyth said the testing also found electrodes were not poisoned by carbon monoxide the way platinum is.
"The small amounts of carbon monoxide that are always present in exhausts from petrol engines are a real problem for fuel cells because the platinum catalyst is slowly poisoned, eventually destroying the cell," Professor Forsyth said.
"The team has come up with an alternative fuel cell design that is more economical, more easily sourced, outlasts platinum cells and is just as effective."
6 August 2008
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| Catherine Arlove |
Eleven elite athletes from Monash will compete at the Beijing Olympics.
Swimming champion Brenton Rickard, a member of the Monash University Swim Club and science graduate, has qualified for the Olympics in the 100m and 200m breaststroke.
Arts graduate Catriona Sens will compete for Australia in the double scull rowing and computing graduate and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Travis Brooks is in the men's hockey team.
Fifth-year medicine student David Zalcberg qualified for the men's singles and team table tennis and second-year law student Catherine Arlove is lining up for her third tilt at Olympic gold in judo.
Doug Ellis Swimming Pool staff member Daniel Lee will compete for the Sri Lankan Olympic swimming team and biomedical science student Liying Toh is in the Singaporean sailing team.
Peninsula campus fitness centre member Erin Densham will compete in the women's triathlon and former Monash students Tania Luiz, Eugenie Tanaka and Karen Kune Foo (Mauritius) are also competing in badminton at the Beijing Olympics.
First-year arts/science student Jessica Walters was also picked in the shadow Olympic squad for archery.
Catherine Arlove, who is one of nearly 100 athletes receiving an Elite Athlete Support bursary, said there were often difficulties of combining a professional sporting career with a law degree.
"A Bachelor of Law is time intensive but the Olympics wait for no one. I have to do 20 to 30 hours a week of physical training and the hardest part is getting enough sleep so you're performing at your best potential," she said.
Arlove is assisted by Monash Sport's elite athlete support program, which offers a range of free services to help manage such challenges.
For more information about the elite athlete program, visit the Monash Sport website.
Further information on some of the Monash athletes can be found by following the external links below:
Brenton Rickard
Catriona Sens
Travis Brooks
David Zalcberg
Catherine Arlove
Daniel Lee
Liying Toh
Jessica Walters
Erin Densham
6 August 2008
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| 300 Monash staff, students, alumni and community members took part in the Walk the Talk fun walk. |
A team of 300 walkers from Monash South Africa (MSA) took to the streets of Johannesburg for the annual Discovery 702 Walk the Talk fun walk on Sunday 27 July, 2008.
The group of staff, students, alumni and community members enjoyed fine weather in the multi-distance event, which helped raise money for the Laureuns Sport for Good Foundation.
Monash South Africa Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Tyrone Pretorius said he was pleased with the turnout from MSA staff and students, which was double that of the previous year.
"While supporting a good cause, these events promote participation in healthy and fun activities leading to fitness, and create a sense of unity and community spirit among staff and students on campus," Professor Pretorius said.
The Discovery 702 Walk the Talk was established in 2000 with 12,000 entries and has grown to more than 50,000 this year.
The event started and finished at Marks Park Sports Club, Emmarentia, and included a hospitality village with on-stage entertainment, which was a big hit with companies, clubs and the public.
TeamMONASH™ provided each Monash participant with a shirt, meal and drinks vouchers before the event.
A video featuring the TeamMONASH™ walkers can be viewed at the Discovery 702 website.
For more information on MSA visit the Monash South Africa website.
6 August 2008
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| Elizabeth Stewart, Victoria Police; Dr Richard Davis, National Security Science and Technology Unit, Federal Government; and Cheryl Johnson, Commonwealth Department of Transport. |
Monash University's Industry Engagement and Commercialisation Group hosted an open day last week for the National Security Science and Technology Unit (NSST), Office of National Security, to facilitate discussion between the department and Victorian universities.
The event included presentations from Monash University's Dr Peter Lentini, Associate Professor Sharon Pickering and Dr Leslie Yeo and members of the Federal Government's National Security Science and Technology Unit.
A workshop was also conducted as part of the Monash/CSIRO Initiative for Peace and Security, a new collaboration that aims to address the major challenges in the areas of peace, security and social cohesion in the community.
The initiative will draw on the strengths of internationally-renowned researchers in physical and social sciences and provide a portal to share knowledge between Monash, the CSIRO and the community.
Keynote speakers at the event included representatives from the Federal Government Department of Transport, Victoria Police, and the National Security Science and Technology Unit of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
6 August 2008
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| This year's 10,000 steps challenge runs from Monday 15 September to Thursday 16 October. |
Get your walking shoes on and a Spring in your step -- the Monash University 10,000 steps Challenge is on again!
This year's challenge begins on Monday 15 September and finishes on Thursday 16 October.
Participants are encouraged to form teams of eight (led by a team captain) which can consist of Monash staff, family or friends, or students.
As a guide to achieve 10,000 steps in a day, participants will need to couple their usual daily activities together with a 30-minute daily walk.
The number of steps walked per day can be counted using pedometers which will be included as part of each participant's challenge pack.
"With continual advances in technology and our workplace becoming more sedentary we are not getting out and about and enjoying the beautiful walks at each campus as much as we should," the University's wellbeing coordinator Bryley Sadler said.
"It is sometimes easier to make active choices when you have a motivational tool such as a pedometer reminding you how many, or how little, steps you have done for the day."
Teams can monitor their progress in the challenge using the 10000 steps website.
Team captains will be responsible for encouraging their team members to log their daily steps and reach their daily goals.
There will be prizes for campuses, teams and individuals.
A launch event will take place at the Berwick campus on Monday 15 September at 10 am featuring guest speaker, Hawthorn Football Club CEO Ian Robson.
To register and for more information, visit the Monash University Occupational Health and Safety website.
6 August 2008
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| More than 1000 students and 21 organisations participated in the inaugural Berwick careers expo. |
The inaugural Berwick campus careers expo, held on 24 July, has been hailed a success with more than 1000 students and 21 organisations participating.
The expo was designed to help students increase their awareness of employment opportunities in their field of study to help them make informed subject selections and build the confidence to be proactive in the job market.
Representatives from some of Australia's leading employers were on hand to discuss career paths and graduate opportunities within their organisations.
Employment and Career Development Careers Education Consultant Lisa Schilling said students from most Monash campuses attended the event, which was beneficial for both employers and students.
"Students gained insight into the employment opportunities in their particular field of study while employers were exposed to the specialised, talented students we have here at Monash," Ms Schilling said.
"Positive feedback was received from both employers and students."
"The expo was so successful, we are already planning next year's event!"
Monash Employment and Career Development will be hosting several other careers fairs and expos in 2008.
For more information on these upcoming events visit the Careers Fairs and Expos web page.
6 August 2008
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| Children celebrate the anniversary with Pirate McGee |
The Monash University School Holiday Program has turned 20.
From humble beginnings with eight children operating out of the Krongold centre, the holiday program has grown over the years, not only in numbers but in reputation within the community.
The program is now a 90-place high-quality program offering exciting activities for primary-school aged children during the school holidays.
Some of the recent activities include swimming, rock climbing, movies, African drumming, hockey and AFL clinics, drama workshops and visiting the Alexander Theatre.
Program Coordinator Janita Grant said the 20th birthday was a great chance to celebrate the achievements of the program.
"In our 20th year, we wanted to acknowledge the importance of having such a fantastic program within the University, and encouraged staff, families and children to be involved in the celebrations," Ms Grant said.
"The birthday party was great fun with a jumping castle, karaoke, a visit from Pirate McGee and pancakes."
Divisional Director Student and Community Services Mr Peter Yates, who attended the celebration, said, "It is a credit to the hard work of the staff that the program is clearly so popular with the children and families of Monash University."
The program is run from the Clayton campus and is available next school holidays, Monday 22 September to Friday 3 October from 8 am to 5.30 pm.
For more information and details on enrolement visit the Monash University School Holiday Program web page.
2 July 2008
As we enter the budget setting process this year, we are faced once again with the dilemma of trying to deliver education at world's best standard and internationally first rate research in the face of funding for Commonwealth-supported undergraduate places and funding for research projects from ARC and NHMRC which fail to meet the real costs of these activities.
This problem has progressively worsened over the last dozen years with an absurdly inadequate formula for indexing the Commonwealth Grants Scheme which has delivered approximately two per cent per year increase when real costs have been rising by four to five per cent over the same time. By contrast, the secondary schools allocation has been fully-indexed and we now have the paradoxical situation where the Commonwealth allocates more funds each year to private schools than it does to its public universities for education.
The extent of the problem we face in this country was reinforced to me when I spoke at the National University and Design Forum. The speaker immediately preceding me was from the University of Pennsylvania. She stated that the student number at her university was 20,000, the recurrent budget $4b and the endowment $6.6b. In other words each year they have three times as much money as we have to educate one third the number of students and an endowment 25 times ours. Even so, their endowment is modest when compared with Harvard's $36b.
I mention this not in the sense that we should despair, but rather to emphasise that like other Australian universities we have to be both very smart and very efficient to be able to compete internationally. Monash has performed superbly in these respects but each year the dual constraints of decreased public funding for education and a highly regulated environment with respect to the fees we can charge undergraduate domestic students make the problem more difficult.
In this context, it is essential that the Bradley Review of Higher Education and the Cutler Review of Innovation convince the Government that our universities must receive more funding if they are to continue to be internationally competitive. This is necessary not merely because of our international standing and reputation but because the future of our economy depends on an adequate supply of well-educated and innovative new graduates and on research to allow our industries to compete on innovation and quality rather than forlornly trying to compete on price. We must also have quality universities to do the research necessary for environmental sustainability. This of course relates to water, clean energy and agricultural sustainability where technological and economic solutions are urgently needed.
At the very least, an outcome of the Bradley Review has to be either markedly elevated public funding of Commonwealth supported places or else deregulation of the fees charged to undergraduate domestic students. More radical solutions such as portable learning scholarships for students in a deregulated environment make a lot of sense from the point of view of flexibility of choice for students and breaking down boundaries between the VET/TAFE sector and universities so they should also be considered.
The Cutler Review must lead to full-funding of research. At present, for every dollar of research funding received from ARC and NHMRC the University has to subsidise around 40c as the infrastructure funds attracted by the grants have not kept up with the increase in the research funding. Quite simply, it costs forty per cent more to do the research than the funding granted.
Of course, more profound outcomes from the Cutler Review might also be hoped for, such as major funding to encourage research clusters incorporating universities, CSIRO and industry – there is no more exciting such cluster than that around the Monash Clayton campus.
Another element contributing to the eddies and currents of the debates around the reviews is the concept of "Compacts". They have been a feature of the Labor Party platform since the Macklin white paper of 2006. Nobody is sure what they will encompass and how they will be administered. They are intended to cover areas such as community and industry engagement, regional development and special initiatives for disadvantaged groups and to encourage diverse missions for different universities.
The sector in general and Monash University have high hopes that the real value to the Australian community of our universities might be recognised following the handing down of the reports of the two reviews. It is essential that this leads to significantly more funding or a more deregulated environment. Anything less will be to the real detriment of the future of our country.
Meanwhile, we face a very difficult budget setting process for 2009.
6 August 2008
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Name: Nicole Schmidt
Org. Unit: Monash Sport
Title: Sports Programs Project Officer
How long have you been with Monash University?
In a split relationship, in total about three years.
Prior to working at Monash, where were you located and what was your role?
Events Project Manager for Latrobe City Council. I also ran my own personal training business.
What exciting challenges are ahead in your current role?
Making sure prospective students, current students, staff and alumni have an opportunity to participate in the upcoming Australian University Games, for which Monash University is the Principal Partner University.
What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?
The environment I work in, it's busy, changing and exciting. The people I work with are absolutely fantastic which makes for a great place to work.
What is your favourite place in the world and why?
New Zealand and Canada both really fascinate me. Both have endless ski runs with good quality snow and plenty of places to explore underwater.
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
People and bank accounts are similar: you need to make deposits and withdrawals, but you need to be careful not to overdraw your account.
What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn't know?
My dog is about to have puppies!
Archive of 60 seconds with...6 August 2008
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Monash University operates what is possibly Australia's biggest carpooling operation, providing a total of 612 free parking spaces for carpoolers across its Clayton, Caulfield, Peninsula and Berwick campuses.
526 of these free spaces are located at Monash University's biggest campus -- Clayton. (All parking is free at Monash's Gippsland campus).
A total of more than 3000 Monash staff and students are registered carpoolers who have been issued cards that allow them to use the carpooling parking spaces free of charge.
Monash surveys indicate that about 500 Monash staff and students carpool each day.
Monash staff and student carpoolers can register with Monash University's online carpooling scheme to find a carpooling buddy who lives in their area.