The Snow Medical Research Foundation (Snow Medical) has awarded Associate Professor Lining (Arnold) Ju and his team from the University of Sydney’s School of Biomedical Engineering an $8 million Fellowship.
University of Sydney media release link
Author: Andrew See
ANFF Statement on the passing of Chris Fell
The Australian National Fabrication Facility announces with great sadness the sudden passing of our beloved Chair of the Board, Emeritus Professor Chris Fell AO FTSE HonFIEAust CPEng.
After gaining a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1965, he had a distinguished career in chemical engineering. A world-renowned expert in separation technology, water treatment and the handling of chemicals, Chris held various positions during his 30 years at the University of New South Wales, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and International) for 10 years.
In 2021, Chris was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO). He received this honour for distinguished service to science and engineering, particularly to nanotechnology research and fabrication, and to professional networks.
Chris Fell was a true lynchpin in the nanotechnology research sector. He not only understood the importance of accessing micro and nanofabrication equipment, but he also quickly realised that research infrastructure and the expertise to use it would become critical to supporting the future growth and development of Australia’s scientific community.
Prof. Fell was instrumental in the establishment of the ANFF organisation in 2007 as one of nine original research infrastructure facilities established under the Commonwealth’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). He became the organisation’s first director, and in 2011, he took over as Chair of the Board.
‘The ANFF community has lost a great leader. Chris Fell has been a constant guiding hand for us for the entire history of this organisation after his passion and energy helped create it. Australia will forever be indebted to this great man, who spent his whole life providing benefits to others. We will miss his wisdom and his wit and his love for sharing a good story,’ said ANFF CEO Jane Fitzpatrick.
Under his leadership, ANFF has grown over the last 15 years to represent a cash investment of more than $400m in research infrastructure made by Commonwealth and State Governments, as well as partner organisations, not including the extensive in-kind contributions. ANFF provides state-of-the-art offerings of micro and nanofabrication infrastructure and engineering expertise across 21 hubs under the ANFF banner to support thousands of researchers from the public and private sectors countrywide.
‘Prof. Fell has been the Chair of the ANFF Board for many years and served in this role because he was the best person for the job. He worked with all Directors to ensure that the Board provided the best governance, advice and support possible for ANFF, which has seen the organisation grow into the success it is today. The Board will greatly miss his presence and enthusiasm for nanotechnology. The Directors feel privileged to have worked with Chris and wish to pass on their sincere condolences to Chris’ family and to express their thanks and appreciation for his many years of service.’ – ANFF Board of Directors
The ANFF family extends our sympathies to Chris’ partner Caroline and his whole family. If you would like to extend your condolences to his family, you can add a message to his Sydney Morning Herald Tributes Public Guestbook (visit this link).
A memorial service in celebration of Chris’ life will be held in early 2023, and details will be made available once arrangements are determined.
Source: https://www.anff.org.au/news/anff-statement-on-the-passing-of-chris-fell
Airbus and UNSW collaborate on solar cells for space
Airbus Defence and Space has selected the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney to conduct a 3.5 year research project for the development of high efficiency solar cells to be used in Space. The research will help push the performance of photovoltaic solar cells for Space to the limit, both in terms of efficiency and radiation stability in the Space environment.
This research project will be led by Professor Ned Ekins-Daukes, at the UNSW Sydney School of Photovoltaic & Renewable Energy Engineering who is an existing ANFF user. Congratulations Ned and team!
ADM link:
RIS Funding Success for Laser MBE
A/Prof Neeraj Sharma (School of Chemistry), Nagarajan Valanoor (Material Science) and Matt Boreland (ANFF-NSW) have been awarded funding under UNSW’s Research Infrastructure Scheme (RIS2023) to support ANFF’s Laser-MBE facility. These funds will enable the procurement of KrF gas, which is essential for driving the excimer laser at the heart of the Laser-MBE system that enables the synthesis of crystalline thin films that empower R&D across a range of applications including microbatteries, nanoelectronic sensors, ferroelectrics and beyond. Importantly the two years of funding ($20k/yr) will mitigate the impact of the recent 500% prices spikes in the cost of KrF gas (induced by supply chain issue) to safeguard the continuity of high impact research.
2022 ANFF Frater Award for Ethel Ilagan
ANFF-NSW is proud to announce that Ms. Ethel Ilagan was selected as one of this year’s winners of the ANFF Frater Award 2022. The prestigious award was presented to Ethel by Emeritus Professor Chriss Fell (Chair of the ANFF Board) to enable exceptional engineers and administrative staff to foster technical and professional growth via national or international activities. Ethel’s Frater Award was in recognition of her success in delivering high-impact microfluidics projects at ANFF-NSW@USYD/RPF. As an overview – microfluidics devices can be tiny chips that perform chemical analyses of extremely small volumes of fluids such as blood. Lab-on-a-chip devices, often use microfluidics devices which have applications in cost-effective disease detection and many other uses from monitoring to treatment, etc. The Frater award will fund Ethel to visit international laboratories including the Clark Lab at UC Berkeley and the Microfluidics Laboratory at Stanford University to extend her profession knowledge in microfluidic best practice and to enable international benchmarking of her work. These initiatives are geared towards advancing Ethel’s career growth and boosting the ANFF-NSW@USYD/RPF’s capability in the microfluidic space.
Congratulations Ethel!!
