Media Release
August 6 2010
UniSA honours graduates, researchers and leaders
UniSA
will present five special awards at its
midyear graduations next week and almost 2000 students will have
their degrees conferred over two days of ceremonies at the Adelaide
Festival Theatre.
The University will award an Honorary Doctorate to Adjunct
Professor Neil Bryans and Jan Lowe will be made a University Fellow.
Three former UniSA Professors and Australian research leaders –
Stephen
Hamnett,
Phil Howlett and
Dorothy
Scott - will be made Emeritus Professors of the University.
Honorary Doctorates are awarded to people who have made a distinguished
contribution to public service or a field of academic endeavour.
Adjunct Professor Neil Bryans is the Executive Director of the Counter
Terrorism and Security Technology Centre at the Defence Science and
Technology Organisation (DSTO). He has dedicated his career to research
and leadership within the Australian Defence Organisation.
His award acknowledges his enormous contribution to the development of
new technologies in telecommunications. Prof Bryans was a founding
member of the scientific team that led to the development of the
Jindalee over the horizon radar and later he undertook research into
coherent microwave radar and was engaged in the evaluations of radar
performance associated with the acquisition of major military platforms.
He was also a Principal Investigator in the NASA Shuttle Imaging radar
(SIR-B) program.
He was appointed Chief of DSTO’s Communications Division in 1990 and in
1995 became Chief of DSTO’s Information Technology Division.
During that decade he spent 15 months as the Defence Signal
Directorate’s chief scientist and a period as First Assistant Secretary
Science Policy.
In 2000 Professor Bryans was appointed Director of DSTO’s Electronics
and Surveillance Laboratory and Head of DSTO Edinburgh and then Deputy
Chief Defence Scientist (Information and Weapons Systems).
Professor Bryans long association with UniSA included strong advocacy
for the formation of the University’s Institute for Telecommunications
Research and he has served on its advisory board since it was founded.
His involvement extends wider into the University and encompasses work
in the Division of IT, Engineering and the Environment and the Division
of Education, Arts and Social Sciences.
Professor Bryans retired from DSTO in September 2007 to return shortly
afterwards as Executive Director of the Counter Terrorism and Security
Technology Centre.
He has served on the Boards of two Cooperative Research Centres, was a
Member of the Premier‘s Science and Research Council for four years, is
an adjunct professor at UniSA and currently chairs the Advisory Boards
of the Institute for Telecommunications Research and the Defence and
Systems Institute.
Now Commissioner of the Environment, Resources and development Court of
SA, Emeritus Professor Hamnett contributed 30 years of research and
leadership in Urban Planning at UniSA. His research interests had a
strong focus on planning in Asia and included work for the Aus AID
program in Indonesia, Fiji, China, the Philippines and Nauru. He is
widely published and his publication co-authored with Robert Freestone
The Australian Metropolis won the Australian Planning Institute award
for scholarship in 2000. In 2009 the Institute awarded him a lifetime
achievement award for outstanding and sustained contribution to planning
education.
A stellar career of more than 45 years with UniSA and its antecedent the
SA Institute of Technology has seen Prof Phil Howlett make an
outstanding contribution in applied mathematics. Leader of UniSA’s
scheduling and control group Prof Howlett was also a champion of the
vital role of mathematics and statistics in solving industry problems
and served as Chair of the Mathematics in Industry Study Group from 2000
- 2003. With colleague Dr Peter Pudney, Prof Howlett designed the
driving strategy for the solar power car Aurora 10 when it won the 1999
World Solar Challenge. Together they were co-inventors of the driver
advice system Freightmiser – a system now in use by Pacific National and
expected to reduce fuel consumption by 15 per cent.
Foundation Chair of Child Protection and Director of the Australian
Centre for Child protection at UniSA, Professor Dorothy Scott has been a
trailblazer in social work in Australia. She founded the first sexual
assault counselling service for women and children in Victoria and
pioneered group therapy for women suffering from post partum psychiatric
disorders. As the first in her family to attend University, Prof Scott
has made an invaluable contribution. Early exposure to children in state
institutional as a volunteer, gave her a lifelong passion for child
protection. Author of five books and chief investigator for four ARC
grants in recent years, Professor Scott has had a major influence child
protection policy.
Jan Lowe will be recognized by UniSA for her outstanding contribution to
the growth and development of UniSA by being made a Fellow of the
University. Lowe served as a member of the University of South
Australian Council for 17 years. She works as the director for
Small Business and Regional Programs with the SA Department of Trade and
Economic Development and has been a successful senior public servant
with more than 25 years experience in public policy. A great contributor
to the broader community, Lowe has also been a board member of the
Spastic Centre of South Australia and Chair of the Community Business
Bureau and served as a member of the State Government review of
University Governance in SA.
Ceremonies will be held for the Divisions of IT, Engineering and the
Environment and Health Sciences and Business on Tuesday August 10 at
10.30 am and 3 pm and for the Divisions of Education Arts and Social
Sciences and Business on Wednesday August 11 at 10.30 am and 3 pm.
Media contact
- Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au