Last updated May 24, 2018 at 12:27 pm
Australian Academy of Science names 21 new Fellows.
Photo: Australian Academy of Science
An Australian scientist who has revealed the hidden world of ants is the first person from the Northern Territory to be elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Dr Alan Andersen, the world’s leading ant community ecologist, is one of 21 scientists acknowledged in 2018 for their outstanding contributions to science, alongside mathematician Professor Geordie Williamson, who at 36 becomes the youngest living Fellow.
This list also includes Professor Jennie Brand-Miller – ‘GI Jennie’ – who is recognised for her research on the glycemic index, and Professor Colin Raston, who received an Ig Nobel prize for creating a way to rearrange proteins which he famously illustrated by unboiling an egg using his invention, the Vortex Fluid Device.
The new Fellows’ pioneering contributions also include: revolutionising the way e-waste is recycled; changing the way we think about carbohydrate foods; research that led to the detection of gravitational waves; and new insights into how the immune system may be harnessed to devise new therapies for cancer and other diseases.
Academy President Professor Andrew Holmes said all had been elected by their Academy peers following a rigorous evaluation process.
“From 23 Founding Fellows in 1954, the election this year of our new Fellows brings our total number of living Fellows to 568,” he said.
“They join a prestigious group – six Nobel Prize winners and luminaries including Sir Mark Oliphant, Professor Nancy Millis, Sir Douglas Mawson, Professor Frank Fenner and Sir David Attenborough.”
The new Fellows are:
Northern Territory
- Professor Alan Andersen, Charles Darwin University (ecologist)
Australian Capital Territory
- Professor Anne Kelso, National Health and Medical Research Council (Chief Executive Officer)
South Australia
- Professor Colin Raston, Flinders University (chemist)
- Professor Greg Goodall, Centre for Cancer Biology (medical researcher)
Queensland
- Professor Kerrie Mengersen, Queensland University of Technology (statistician)
- Professor Bostjan Kobe, University of Queensland (structural biologist)
Western Australia
- Emeritus Professor David Blair, University of Western Australia (experimental physicist)
- Professor Kliti Grice, Curtin University (organic geochemist)
Victoria
- Professor David Bowtell, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (medical researcher)
- Professor Joseph Trapani, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (medical researcher)
- Professor Peter Cawood, Monash University (geologist)
- Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, University of Melbourne (quantum physicist)
- Professor Rachel Webster, University of Melbourne (astrophysicist)
New South Wales
- Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, University of Sydney (human nutrition researcher)
- Professor Geordie Williamson, University of Sydney (mathematician)
- Professor Christopher Dickman, University of Sydney (ecologist)
- Professor Dacheng Tao, University of Sydney (computer scientist)
- Professor Veena Sahajwalla, UNSW Sydney (materials scientist)
- Professor Richard Bryant, UNSW Sydney (medical scientist)
- Professor Martina Stenzel, UNSW Sydney (polymer chemist)
- Professor Noel Cressie, University of Wollongong (statistician)
You can learn more about their work on the Australian Academy of Science website.
