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The Australian Ceramic SocietyNewsbulletin - Volume 23, Number 1, April 2008 |
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A Message from the EditorWelcome to the second edition of the new look Australian Ceramic Societies NewsBulletin. We hope you are enjoy our new format and should you have any feedback or comments please send them through. We also encourage all members to become involved with the Society. If you have any stories, experiences, reports, or thoughts that you'd like to share with the other members, please feel free to e-mail them through. Melody Carter |
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We made major changes to the Society in August 2006. The changes made were to abolish annual membership fees and have only a one-off joining fee. While we need to encourage interaction amongst our members, it is the students that we need to attract as they are the up and coming professionals we would like to nurture for the long term. For this reason we have provided them free membership and hope that they will become involved to take advantage of the networking opportunities and industry contact, as well as being members of a recognised professional society.
The Materials and Austceram 2007 International Conference was held in Sydney, 4-6 July. The conference was jointly organised by our Society and Materials Australia and it was a great success according to the feedback we received. We hope to continue these joint meetings in 2009 and 2011 with Materials Australia. Materials and Austceram 2009 is planned for the end of June in Brisbane and the organising committee is being put together. The 2011 meeting will be one of the PAC RIM series of ceramics meetings. Our Society organised PAC RIM 2 in 1996 in Cairns with over 700 delegates attending from more than 40 countries. Planning for the 2011 meeting will start soon.
Our Federal Secretary, Associate Professor Jim Low represented our Society both at the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Korean Ceramic Society and the PAC RIM 7 International Ceramics Conference in Shanghai, China in November. The next PAC RIM conference will be held in Vancouver, May 31-June 5, 2009. Our Society will play a major role this year at the 2nd International Congress on Ceramics in Verona, Italy, June 29-July 4. I will be leading a delegation to this meeting where we will discuss policy issues relating to Australian industry/research on ceramics, glasses and cementitious materials. The aim of the congress is to produce a roadmap for the future. This series of congresses is run under the auspices of the International Ceramic Federation (ICF). Our Society is a foundation member of the ICF.
Our Society plays a significant role in international activities as I have mentioned above. We expect to pass on these benefits to members through various communications and interactions. We have increased our membership by more than 30% since August 2006 and many overseas members have joined the Society. As the globalisation of the economy and the use of the internet increases the changes we have made are also being implemented by other professional societies.
The Newsbulletin Editor Cathy Inglis has handed over the editorship to Melody Carter. On behalf of the Society I would like to thank Cathy for the wonderful job she has carried out over the past 6 years. It is up to you, the members, to provide information about your professional activities and achievements to our new Editor so that others can read about them. Your feedback on any issue would be highly appreciated.
Let me wish you a successful 2008.
Dan Perera
by Larry Jordan
18-19 March 2008
The first day of Science Meets Parliament started off with a series of presentations on meeting with parliamentarians and the involvement of scientists in the media. The typical story of media and scientists went something like this:
A reporter finds out at 2pm that she will be writing a story on nuclear energy for the evening news after a surprise announcement by a parliamentarian. Although she thought she was covering interest rates that day, she gets a list of scientists involved in nuclear energy to get a quote for her story. She rings Professor A and gets forwarded to the department secretary. 'Professor A is on sabbatical for six months and is not contactable. However Professor B is an expert on nuclear issues. He isn't in the office at the moment. He doesn't believe in mobile phones but he is good with email - he usually gets back within a week.' The reporter contacts her colleagues - one of them has a friend who is a scientist, a biologist, but has an interest in nuclear issues.
In this way there have been some stark headlines quoting scientists; 'Trees are Bad for the Environment' is one that has appeared! The message from this is that scientists can become involved in the media, to provide evidence-based science to the public, through the Australian Science Media Centre.
Greg Combet MP and Larry Jordan
The Victorian Branch started the New Year with Jeff Sellar as State President, Graham Sussex (principal of Sussex Materials Solutions) as Secretary and Larry Jordan as Treasurer. Larry is Chief Scientist at General Motors Holden at Fisherman's Bend and was the Society's representative at 'Science Meets Parliament' in Canberra last month
Our events programme kicked off on Tuesday February 19th with a lecture in the STRIP Building at Monash University delivered by Professor Yi-Bing Cheng FTSE with the title 'Structural Ceramics to Nano-functional Materials: Recent, Current and Future Activities at Monash University'. Yi-Bing gave a masterly exposition of several of the lines of research that helped elevate him recently to a Fellowship of the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering, and of some of his plans for the future. These included ceramifiable polymer-ceramic composites, dye-sensitized solar cell materials and nanostructures of non-oxide ceramics such as silicon carbide, a candidate structural material for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems. He was afterwards the Society's guest at the Gateway on Monash restaurant
On Wednesday March 5th, Cathy Inglis of Austral Bricks gave the local branch an overview of energy efficiency regulations and rating tools for Australian buildings at Monash's downtown centre at 30 Collins Street, a building wedged in between the august Melbourne Club on one side and a McDonalds restaurant on the other. Keeping masonry research as her theme, Cathy related how the need to limit greenhouse emissions has resulted in amendments to the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and in new energy rating tools. The meeting was subsequently adjourned to the Spaghetti Tree restaurant in Bourke Street, where an animated discussion ensued between Cathy and local brick-and-tile mavens Richard Bowman and Steve Zsembery and with a Bendigo contingent:- Simon Meadows, Jock Selkirk and Anthony Stone.
A sizeable crowd (including several non-members) attended Glenn Shirley's Monday March 17th talk on the design, manufacture and testing of Zinc Oxide Varistors. Glenn was visiting his native Australia after a 30-year career in the US semiconductor industry, first with Motorola in Phoenix (7 years), then with Intel in Phoenix and later in Hillsboro, Oregon. A graduate of Melbourne and Arizona State Universities, at the conclusion of his talk Glenn took the opportunity to reminisce about old times with former colleagues and other Society members at the Gateway on Monash restaurant.
The Australian Ceramic Society would like to welcome the following people who have recently joined up.
Corporate Members
Ordinary Members
Student Members
Norkem is a major European chemical supplier, stocking over 150 different industrial chemicals and providing a wide range of high-quality specialty chemicals for the world chemical market. Founded over 35 years ago, we have the experience and resources you would expect from a leading chemical supplier to provide you with the products you need, when you need them and where you need them.
Norkem is the world leader in production and distribution of water based suspensions for the production of high quality clay bricks, roof tiles and pavers.
Formed originally from the pressure to move away from the use of toxic Barium Carbonate powder Norkem now uses its technology to suspend a wide range of chemical additives and colour's.
The Australian Ceramic Society has no annual membership fees. Just a once off joining fee.
For corporate members, you also get to display a logo on all pages of the ACS web site.
And the best deal is for students. Students can join for FREE and receive all the benefits of an ordinary member.
This is quite possibly the best deal on offer from any professional/trade association.
If you know someone who is involved in the ceramics industry, or has in interest in ceramics, please forward this newsbulletin to them and encourage them to join.
More details and membership forms are available on the Australian Ceramic Society web site.
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ACS Joins an International Body The Australian Ceramic Society is an organization that works towards furthering all aspects of ceramics, including science, industry, trade and art. It's standing in the global materials community just been further enhanced with its acceptance into the International Commission on Glass The International Commission on Glass (ICG) is a non-profit international Society of national scientific and technical organisations with particular interests in glass science and technology. It was founded in 1933 and has grown to become the recognised world-wide organisation in the field of glass with presently 28 member organisations bringing together the world's most respected universities, scientific institutions, companies of the glass industry and allied organisation. |
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Visiting Professorship Awarded Lou Vance, who led ANSTO's wasteforms R&D for many years,has been awarded a visiting professorship in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust. Dr Vance intends to take this up in mid-2008. He will undertake collaborative research with the Department on the science of high-level radioactive waste management; advise on its laboratory for water and wasteform interactions; give public lectures at Cambridge, Imperial College and the University of Sheffield and some undergraduate lectures; and enhance British/Australian interaction on radioactive waste management. The Trust's awards are highly competitive and will provide Dr Vance and his wife with travel and accommodation, as well as allowances for travel to give lectures and interact with British researchers. |
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Australian Ceramics Society Introduce Honorary Fellow Membership The Australian Ceramic Society, a leading materials community specializing in ceramic materials and related technologies have ratified a new membership level for professionals who excelled in their respective areas. The new membership status of Honorary Fellow was approved at the Federal Council meeting held on September 6th, 2007. |
If you or your company is a member of the Australian Ceramic Society and you have relevant news stories, please send them to Newsbulletin@austceram.com
Have you seen any press releases that relate to the ceramics industry? If so, send us a link to Newsbulletin@austceram.com
Australian Ceramic Society Awarded Travel Bursaries
Australian Ceramic Society Awarded Travel Bursaries to Students for the Materials and Austceram 2007 International Conference that was held in June 2007
The following members of the Society who are full time students received travel Bursaries:
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Some of the students posed for the photos with Jim Low and Dan Perera at the conference
Andrew was the winner for the best poster and he received his cheque from the Technical Program Co-Chairman Dr Lou Vance at the conference dinner.
This prestigious Award, inaugurated in 1982, is presented biennially, on the occasion of AUSTCERAM Conferences, to a person (not necessarily a member of our Society) who has contributed in an outstanding way to the profession and practice of ceramics in Australasia. In the past it has been awarded to the following :
The winner of the 2007 award was Rod Stead, Managing Director of Rojan Advanced Ceramics Ltd of Western Australia.
The presentation speech was given by ACS President Dan Perera. The full transcript of the presentation speech can be found by clicking here.
Rod Stead, Managing Director of Rojan Advanced Ceramics was the winner of the ACS Biennial Award, he made his acceptance speech at the Austceram 2007 conference dinner
The Materials Research Society (MRS) and Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS) announce a new joint international conference and exhibit€MRS International Materials Research Conference. (We invite you to listen to this interview with Meeting Chair Eric Garfunkel from Azom.com, in which he provides an excellent preview of this unique event.)
Join us for this premier 4-day event, as leading researchers from around the world meet in China to share ideas € further dialog € and forge new interdisciplinary partnerships in these exciting and expanding fields of materials research. Please view the links at left for more information on Keynote Speaker Alan Heeger, Exhibit plans, the Program Schedule, Registration, Lodging, Tours, and about Chongqing itself.
Contact: info@mrs.org
This second edition will update the road map of ICC1 and look into the European situation with reference to diversification and complexity deriving from more than 25 Countries represented in the European Ceramic Society.
All the same, this event aims to privilege the links with the other realities in ceramics, like China, Korea and South-East Asia, Central and Southern America, in order to favour the participation of the Ceramic Societies of these Countries, in compliance with Statute of the International Ceramic Federation.
Contact: icc2@icc2.org
ICEM is a biennial conference run under the umbrella of the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) of which Australia is an adhering body.
This major interdisciplinary materials conference is expected to attract around 1500 participants and is organized around 20 topical symposia within the following thematic areas:
The conference will include plenary lectures from Nobel Laureates and internationally renowned scientists, as well as about 150 invited oral presentations from international experts in materials areas covered by the individual symposia.
Contact: helen@materialsaustralia.com.au
A special session on "Biominerals and Biomaterials" will be organized as part of this conference. This meeting is held once every four years and focuses on several issues of interest to many mineralogists, e.g., analytical techniques and instrumentation, advanced materials, and environmental and medical mineralogy -- in addition to our own theme of biominerals and biomaterials.
Contact: alisonm@ausimm.com.au
MS&T€08€ The leading forum addressing structure, properties, processing and performance across the materials community brought to you by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, The American Ceramic Society, ASM International and the Association for Iron and Steel Technology.
Contact: mmahan@ceramics.org
The Sintering 2008 Conference happening November 16-20, 2008 in La Jolla, California, addresses the latest advances in the sintering processes for the fabrication of powder-based materials. A broad range of topics from fundamentals to industrial applications for all classes of materials is addressed. Sintering, besides its traditional importance for the production of structural and electronic components, is emerging as a leading tool for the synthesis of nano-structured materials for a variety of fields including energy, environment and health. This conference will focus on our increasing ability to design complex and multi-functional materials with specific microstructures and properties.
Contact: mmahan@ceramics.org
Sigma-Aldrich have an on line publication Material Matters€ and the new Organic Electronics issue is now available electronically at www.sigmaaldrich.com/materialmatters
Also with this issue, Sigma-Aldrich are introducing a new regular feature called "Your Materials Matter". Inside every issue Sigma-Aldrich will present a new product for materials research introduced following a customer's suggestion. Send your product suggestions to matsci@sial.com!
HAVE YOU MISSED AN ISSUE? Go to the website to view and download back issues or order FREE printed copies.
Contact:
Ilya Koltover, Ph.D.
Sigma-Aldrich, Materials Science
matsci@sial.com
Have you got recently taken some pictures while traveling relating to ceramics?
Has your company produced an interesting ceramic component that they'd like to promote?
Do you have some interesting ceramic images, micrographs or even graphs that you'd like to share with the other ACS members?
High-tech, low-tech, artistic, send them in and to Newsbulletin@austceram.com and we'll post them in the next issue if we think they are suitable. Don't forget to tell us a little bit about your photo/s!
As promised last issue, here are some more images from the Terracotta warriors in X'i'an China.
Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
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And a little bit of history.
OK, for those of you with a couple of spare minutes, here are some ceramic related videos that you may or may not find interesting with varying degrees of technical merit.
If you have a video that you would like to share, please e-mail Newsbulletin@austceram.com
Federal Council
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President |
D. Perera |
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Vice President |
C. Chai |
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Secretary |
J. Low |
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Treasurer |
J. Sellar |
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Councillors |
R. Bowman |
C. Inglis |
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L. Vance |
M. Stuart |
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P. Walls |
R. Stead |
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M. Carter |
C. Berndt |
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K. Gross |
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Australian Ceramic Society
c/- Department of Applied Physics
Curtin University
GPO Box U1987
Perth, WA 6846
Australia
Tel. +61 8 9266 7544
Fax. +61 8 9266 2377
Branch Committees
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NSW |
Victoria |
WA |
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President |
C. Inglis |
J. Sellar |
J. Low |
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Vice President |
C.Chai |
M. Curtis |
J. Parsons |
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Secretary |
M. Hoffman |
M. Sussex |
I. Davies |
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Treasurer |
A. Taylor |
S. Zsembery |
R. McConnell |
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Councillors |
I. Stewart |
R. Bowman |
D. Phillips |
Newsbulletin Contacts
Editor - Melody Carter, Ansto - mlc@ansto.gov.au
Contributing Editor - Jeff Sellar, Monash University - jeff.seller@eng.monash.edu.au
Contributing Editor - Dave Phillips, Curtin University - D.Phillips@info.curtin.edu.au
Newsbulletin Production - Cameron Chai, AZoM.com - cameronchai@azom.com
What do you think of the new ACS Newsbulletin format?
Was there something you particularly liked?
Was there perhaps something you didn't like about it?
Is there something you would like to see in it?
We value you our members and appreciate your feedback so that we can look to continually improve this publication.
Feel free to send all your feedback to newsbulletin@austceram.com, good, bad or otherwise.
This copy of the Australian Ceramic Society Newsbulletin and the information within it may not be reproduced, saved, or otherwise copied into a database without the prior written consent of the Australian Ceramic Society.
