Faculty round-ups: in brief

Art and Design

Electronic media art grows

Monash's Centre for Electronic Media Art has opened a second branch, at the Faculty of Art and Design, Caulfield campus. It complements the centre's original facility at Clayton campus, which opened in 1999.

The new Caulfield premises augment the facilities of the Department of Multimedia and Digital Arts' digital media studios at the campus, which cater for digital imaging, web design, interactive media, animation, virtual spaces and digital video.

The Art and Design faculty will host the CEMA iteration conference on generative systems in the electronic arts from 30 November to 2 December.

For information, visit the Third Iteration Conference website.

Arts

Distinguished career

Professor Graeme Davison will retire from Monash's School of Historical Studies at the end of 2005, after 23 years.

Professor Davison, a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor of History, award-winning author and renowned historian, will reflect on his work and career at a public lecture on 23 November at Monash's Clayton campus.

He will continue his association with the school, particularly with the Institute for Public History where he has been the inaugural director. Professor Davison commenced as director of the Monash University London Centre in July.

Business and Economics

New publication launched

A journal dedicated to communicating original academic research about business to a wider audience has been launched by Monash.

Monash Business Review, initiated by the Faculty of Business and Economics and the Graduate School of Business, identifies trends affecting Australian business and how they shape its environment. It will be published three times a year in print and online.

Education

Cyclists profiled

A Monash University study has revealed a new breed of 'weekend warrior' cyclist who enjoys competitive racing yet rejects formal cycling clubs. Dr Justen O'Connor and Dr Trent Brown, who teach and research in physical education in the Faculty of Education, found weekend-warrior cyclists create their own competitions on public roads.

Engineering

Wearing the goggles: VIS rower Ms Jessica Huston.

Goggles for rowers

Monash University and the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) have developed virtual reality goggles that give rowers a training edge by providing them with an instantaneous, side-on view of themselves as they stroke.

The Real Time Video Feedback goggles were designed by Dr Andrew Short from Monash's School of Materials Engineering, with funding from the institute.

"The goggles offer a practical solution to a common problem in sports training -- how to see immediately, accurately and in real time what you are doing and how you could improve," Dr Short said.

Information Technology

Software for cancer, aircraft research

A powerful software tool designed by Monash academics is being used in the UK to develop cancer treatments and improve aircraft engine design. Nimrod/G, developed by Professor David Abramson and the Cooperative Research Centre for Enterprise Distributed Systems, enables users to harness many computers, often distributed around the world, for large-scale simulations.

The software is being used in Wales to optimise research into X-ray cancer treatment, and in the UK to improve the design of aircraft engines by developing optimal blade design.

Law

Law leaders acknowledged

Two distinguished members of the Monash Law School community have been recognised by the university for their outstanding contributions to the law and the legal profession.

Former longstanding staff members Emeritus Professor Enid Campbell AC OBE and Emeritus Professor Louis Waller AO were awarded honorary doctorates.

Professor Campbell, a former Law dean and Sir Isaac Isaacs Professor of Law at Monash, was the first woman to hold a chair of law in any Australasian university. She occupied the chair for three decades.

Professor Waller, who occupied the position of dean prior to Professor Campbell, was recognised for his major contributions to law and medical ethics. He has been a professor at Monash Law School since 1965 and continues to teach as an honorary lecturer.

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Stem cell leader

Stem cell science and multiple sclerosis research at the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories have been brought together with the appointment of eminent immunology professor Claude Bernard, an MS specialist.

Only a handful of researchers around the world are looking at the use of stem cells in repairing brain damage in MS sufferers.

Professor Bernard is renowned for his work in helping to build our understanding of MS.

Associate Professor Shaun Jackson.

Safer, more effective aspirin

Monash University researchers and staff of Melbourne-based biotechnology company Cerylid Biosciences Ltd have discovered and developed a new class of anti-clotting drugs that appear to be more effective than aspirin in preventing blood clots.

Associate Professor Shaun Jackson, from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases at Monash, said PI 3-kinase inhibitors may prove important in treating heart attack and stroke patients by stopping the formation of problem-causing blood clots without causing excessive bleeding.

Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC)

Roll-over retrofits save lives

The Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) hosted a September visit from two US experts in farm machinery safety, who investigated Victoria's world-leading model for tractor safety.

Dr Eric Hallman, director of the Agricultural Health and Safety Program at Cornell University, and Dr Mark Purschwitz, from the National Farm Medicine Centre in Wisconsin, toured regional Victoria, exploring organisational and technical issues associated with tractor modifications and meeting farmers and machinery dealers.

Senior MUARC research fellow Dr Lesley Day said Victoria was leading the way in farm machinery accident prevention due to the introduction of retrofitting of roll-over protection to older tractors.

Pharmacy

New chair appointed

The Victorian College of Pharmacy appointed Professor Michael Dooley to the newly created chair of clinical pharmacy in March. The chair is a joint position with the Bayside Health network, making Professor Dooley the new director of Pharmacy services at The Alfred, Caulfield and Sandringham hospitals in Melbourne.

In his Bayside role, Professor Dooley is responsible for 80 staff and an annual budget of around $45 million. It is the first time a professor of clinical pharmacy has simultaneously held such a hospital position.

Research

E-research for world grid

Monash University has established a $3 million centre devoted to developing the use of e-research -- the use of clusters of high-performance computers, huge databases and other scientific instruments to link international research teams.

Deputy vice-chancellor (research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the e-research centre would enable the university to capitalise on its strengths in structural biology; grid computing (where resources from many computers in a network are applied to a single problem); climate modelling and earth systems; computational engineering; and multimedia, as well as develop research areas in faculties such as Arts.

Associate Professor Stephen McKechnie (left) with Dr Paul Umina of the School of Biological Sciences.

Science

Climate monitors

Climate change has dramatically altered the genetic makeup of vinegar flies along Australia's east coast over the past 20 years, Monash University researchers have found.

It is the first time climate change has been shown to cause such a rapid change to a species' genetic composition.

The discovery, by researchers from the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research in Monash's School of Biological Sciences, means vinegar flies could help alert scientists to climate change, and the possible extinction of species less able to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.

Senior appointments

Mr Ron Fairchild

One of North America's leading fundraisers and development strategists has joined Monash University in the new position of vice-president, advancement.

Mr Ron Fairchild has helped raise more than half a billion dollars for hospitals, health centres, universities and art galleries in his native Canada.

He has also advised on fundraising campaigns and audits at universities in Australia and New Zealand during his 20 years in the industry.

Mr David Pitt

Monash has appointed former Telstra director of strategic projects Mr David Pitt as its new vice-president, finance (chief financial officer). At Telstra, Mr Pitt developed and implemented the company's new superannuation scheme and the strategy for the early rollout of Telstra's Pay TV cable network.