March 23 2006

Message From the Rector

UNSW@ADFA Reception - Wednesday 26 April

All University staff would have received an invitation from the Vice-Chancellor to attend the UNSW@ADFA Reception on Wednesday 26 April 2006 from 5.00pm to 6.30pm in the Officers' Mess. As the Vice-Chancellor said in the invitation, the Reception will be a great opportunity to celebrate the many significant achievements of UNSW@ADFA and for you to meet the senior management of the University. I encourage all staff to attend and look forward to seeing you there.

Please RSVP (acceptances only) to Ms Alyson Wills by Tuesday 18 April 2006, preferably via email: vcreception@unsw.edu.au or telephone: 9385 2884.

Professor John Baird
Rector

Reminder: Campus Newsletter published fortnightly
Please note that the UNSW@ADFA Newsletter will is now operating as a fortnightly newsletter. If you have any suggestions as to the usability or content of the Newsletter please send to newsletter@adfa.edu.au. Please keep the items coming.

Officers Mess and Senior Common Room
2006 Commencement Dinner and ADFA's 20th Anniversary Celebration

On Friday 10 March, over 100 people filled the dining room for the 2006 Commencement Dinner and celebration of the 20th Anniversary of ADFA. This was clearly considered a feature event for the year with the tickets sold out two weeks earlier.

The evening commenced with pre dinner drinks and a small group from the RMC Band. The seating plan encouraged mingling of the military and civilian members and it would appear from the flow of conversation and laughter over the 3 course feast that this was most successful. To provide a memento of the evening, a flower and an engraved wine glass were alternatively set around the tables.

During the evening Ray Watson and Stuart Campbell were awarded Honorary Membership in view of their former roles as Deputy President of the Mess Committee during the 1990s. Both contributed much to the success of the Mess as a venue for informal meeting of the two sides of ADFA during their terms. In their acceptance speeches they provided some humorous insights into the early days of the Mess. A presentation was also made to the outgoing President of the Mess Committee, GPCAPT Loch Mitchell in recognition of his two year term.

To finish off such a fine meal we were escorted downstairs by a Piper from the RMC Band to enjoy coffee, fruit, cheese and port. It was a wonderful evening and an appropriate celebration of the commencement of the 20th academic year for UNSW@ADFA.

 

RESEARCH & RESEARCH TRAINING OFFICE REPORT

Grand Challenges for Achieving Hypersonic Flight

Seminar 27 March LT09 12:40 – 13:30

UNSW@ADFA is pleased to host the above seminar which will be presented by David M. Van Wie of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, Maryland.

David M. Van Wie is an Aerospace Engineer with 26 years of experience in the field of aerospace vehicle design and development with emphasis on propulsion systems for supersonic and hypersonic flight vehicles. Dr Van Wie attended the University of Maryland between 1976 and 1986 and received BS, MS and PhD degrees in Aerospace Engineering. He was also awarded a MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1998. Dr Van Wie has been employed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for the past 23 years and is currently a member of the Principal Professional Staff and Director of the Precision Engagement Transformation Center. He has been a project leader for numerous activities related to the development of supersonic and hypersonic airbreathing engines with application to tactical missiles and access-to-space vehicles. He has conducted experiments in many hypersonic facilities throughout the United States and Canada, has developed unique instrumentation techniques for the measurement of engine component performance in ground-based facilities at speeds between Mach 3 and 17, and has explored novel plasma flow control and combustion enhancement techniques. Dr Van Wie has taught undergraduate and graduate courses for the University of Maryland in airbreathing and rocket propulsion, and high-speed aerodynamics. Dr Van Wie also holds a research faculty appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Abstract: Hypersonic flight vehicles operating using airbreathing propulsion systems offer the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of launching payloads to space and the time required to travel global distances. While the potential of airbreathing scramjet propulsion systems for both sustained hypersonic flight within the atmosphere and efficient acceleration for access-to-space vehicles has been long known, realistic engines have yet to be developed and employed on hypersonic vehicles. The fundamental difficulties associated with hypersonic engine and vehicle operation can be grouped into grand challenges dealing with aerodynamics, combustion, materials, structures, and control issues. These six grand challenges will be outlined together with a brief review of the state-of-the-art, current research thrusts at JHU/APL, and identification of research needs.

 

Quantum Computers

UNSW@ADFA Seminar on 5 April 11am in LT06

Professor Robert Clark (FAA BSc PhD UNSW, MA Oxford) is presenting this seminar and Professor John Baird (Rector) and Professor Joseph Lai Associate Dean (Research) would like to invite all interested staff at ADFA to attend the above seminar presented by one of UNSW’s most eminent researchers. Professor Clark has a strong interest in research undertaken at UNSW@ADFA and collaborates closely with both Dr Wayne Hutchison (PEMS) and Dr Elanor Huntington (ITEE). Funding for Professor Clark’s work is provided by the Australian Research Council, Australian Government, US National Security Agency and US Army Research Office. The Research and Research Training Office has taken the liberty of including a short bio from Professor Clark’s Home Page.

Bio: Robert Clark's early career involved 10 years service as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy (1969-79), during which he undertook his BSc degree at the Royal Australian Naval College, Jervis Bay and UNSW. He served in 8 RAN ships and completed an Operations and Weapons course on exchange with the Royal Navy, UK. RAN qualifications included a Full Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate and RAN Ships Diving Officer. Promoted to Lieutenant. On resigning from the RAN he completed a PhD in Physics at UNSW and the Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford.

After a postdoctoral research position at the Clarendon he was appointed University Lecturer in Physics at the University of Oxford and Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford in 1984. During this period he headed a research group at the Clarendon Laboratory investigating quantum effects in advanced semiconductor systems, in particular the fractional quantum Hall effect. He returned to Australia in 1991 to take up the position of Professor of Experimental Physics at UNSW, where he founded and established the National Magnet Laboratory and Semiconductor Nanofabrication Facility. These facilities provide an Australian capability to fabricate sophisticated semiconductor nanostructure devices and to measure their quantum properties. He was appointed Director of the ARC Special Research Centre for Quantum Computer Technology in 2000 (ARC Centre of Excellence from 2003). He has been a member of the Editorial Board of the international journal Solid State Communications and has been the Australian representative for nanotechnology, International Union of Vacuum Science.

Robert has received a number of awards and distinctions. In the RAN he received the EE Mayo Prize for top academic performance at the Royal Australian Naval College and the RAN (RNZN) Navigation Prize. At Oxford he received a Wolfson award in 1988 for prestigious research and was conferred UK Mott Lecturer at the European Physical Society Meeting in 1991 for his research in condensed matter physics. In 1994 he was elected Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University, and in 1998 was awarded the Walter Boas Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics. In 2000, he was honoured with the title Scientia Professor at the University of NSW. In 2001 he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and was a recipient of an inaugural Federation Fellowship by the Australian Government. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary Medal and was selected in the Bulletin Magazine's Australian "smart 100 list" for innovation and achievement.

Professor Clark is Director, Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, Professor, Experimental Physics (Chair) and Scientia Professor in addition to holding a prestigious Australian Government Federation Fellowship.

(Staff in the Research and Research Training Office wore out a number of dictionaries trying to get on top of some of ‘quantum computing’ stuff!! In the course of attempting to understand the basics of quantum computer technology we discovered that today’s computers are still basically the same as the huge early computers, but with better, smaller, faster technology (we can’t see how that qualifies as ‘basically the same’…)). Now the emphasis is on quantum computers, which operate at the atomic level.

Until now, researchers have only been able to quantum entangle two 'qubits', the particles needed to operate a quantum computer (a qubit is a state of being both on and off at the same time. The other challenge is being able to create multiple qubits: essentially, any object that can exist in two states can be a qubit). A quantum bit, or qubit is a unit of quantum information. (And we had thought ‘qubits’ referred to those slivers of wood littering the floor around the pool table in the Research Student Precinct….)

Difference versus Change - Faculty Seminar 11 April

Professor Brian Lees took up his appointment as Professor in Geography, PEMS in February 2006. Brian was initially commissioned as a regular officer in the RAF, serving in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. After gaining civil commercial pilot's and flight navigator's licences he flew with ADASTRA on mineral exploration and mapping projects. He subsequently took a first-class honours degree in geomorphology from the University of Sydney. From 1977 Brian worked on a number of joint-venture projects becoming a director of two small exploration companies and the exploration manager of a third. This led him to form a company to carry out environmental and exploration services for larger organisations. Brian obtained a PhD, also from the University of Sydney, in 1984. He joined the ANU in 1985.

Abstract: GIS and related geographical technologies have been operational for about twenty-five years now. Increasingly, national and international agencies are attempting to use the technology to track change over that period and, increasingly, they are finding this problematic.

Why should this be so? The rush to adopt geographic technologies, in many places, blinded early adopters to some fundamental problems inherent in data collection and analysis. Problems of perception, of disciplinary existentialism, homomorphism, and our natural propensity to classify observations provide part of the answer. The ease of adopting nominal fields as a data type rather than something more definite provides another part of the answer. But the dissonance between difference and change, a poorly understood mismatch in concepts, remains a major component in the barrier to tracking change through time.

This seminar reviews the impacts of each of these issues and suggests that the solutions are not technical, but theoretical. Indeed, many of these are issues in the disciplines which underpin geographical technology and have been for many years. Now that many of the technical issues have been addressed and the technology is in common use it is time to critically re-examine the underpinning theory.

The Faculty Seminar will be held in SL1 (Bld 21). Refreshments will be available from 3:15 and the seminar commence at 3:40pm. After the 25 minute seminar there will be a short time available for questions. All staff and research students are encouraged to attend. Faculty Seminars provide a great opportunity for networking across all Schools at UNSW@ADFA. Please RSVP to Elvira Berra at e.berra@adfa.edu.au or on 88112 by Thursday 6 April. (RSVPs are greatly appreciated – we nearly ran out of wine at the last Faculty Seminar….!!)

ARC (Australian Research Council) application update

The collective sigh of relief which could be heard wafting over the campus was the result of researchers having finally completed and submitted their Discovery (D-P) applications. Twenty-two applications were submitted by UNSW@ADFA researchers, slightly down from last year’s total of twenty six applications. The process this year was fraught with additional problems caused by major delays with the ARC’s submission procedures, particularly GAMS. GAMS,(the Grants Administration Management System on which all applicants must lodge their applications), was so congested that the ARC broadcast an apology, informing researchers that the best time to attempt to access the system was very early in the morning. (Just as well our researchers were still working at 2am!!.) And the groaning which can be heard on campus today is caused by those researchers now either drafting or contemplating submitting Linkage (L-P) applications….

Orientation Sessions

New Academic and Research Staff: The Research and Research Training Office (RRTO) will be hosting the orientation session for new academic and research staff in SL1 (Bld 21) on Tuesday, 28 March from 2:30-3:30 pm. Professor john Baird (Rector) and Professor Joseph Lai (Associate Dean (Research) strongly encourage all new staff to attend this important orientation. By way of ‘encouraging’ attendance, the RRTO will supply afternoon tea: this will provide an opportunity for new staff to network and meet colleagues from other discipline areas.

Research Student Orientation: On Tuesday April 4, there will be an Orientation Session for new full time and part-time Postgraduate Research Students commencing study in session one 2006. Professor Joseph Lai, Associate Dean (Research), would like to invite all new Research students and their supervisors to attend the orientation. Please note that attendance for new full-time postgraduate research students is compulsory. This session will provides all commencing students with an opportunity to meet other new students and gain an understanding of what UNSW@ADFA has to offer. The orientation will be held in SL1, Building 21, located across the corridor from the Research & Research Training Office (RRTO) and will commence at 2.30pm. A light afternoon tea will follow the formalities.
Please RSVP no later than Thursday 30 March on Ext. 88112 or via email e.berra@adfa.edu.au

Staff Bulletin The Newsletter will now be published on a fortnightly basis. If you have something you would like to contribute, please download and complete the submission form and email the information to newsletter@adfa.edu.au by 12 noon on the Wednesday prior. The website will be changed to reflect Fortnightly news rather than weekly as show above. NEXT PUBLISHED CAMPUS NEWSLETTER THURS 4 April 2006. Commandant's Morning Tea - April 7 All ADFA staff are invited to attend the Commandant's morning teas held on the first Friday of each month, not only military staff as has previously been the case. The next Commandants Morning Tea will be held at 10am on Friday April 7 in the ADFA Cadets Mess Reading Room. back to top UNSW@ADFA IT Discussion Forum - April 20 The next IT Discussion Forum will be held on Thursday, April 20 at 2pm in Room 152, Building 15. The forum will address the issue of Email SPAM: what anti-SPAM measures are currently implemented at UNSW@ADFA, how well do they work and could they be improved? All of us are affected by Email SPAM. Here is an opportunity to have your say on this important issue. Everyone is welcome to attend. Enquiries to Dr. Stephen James, x88776, s.james@adfa.edu.au back to top FLU INJECTIONS - April 24 The University will again be providing flu injections for all staff. These will be held on Monday 24 April 2006 in Room SR101, starting at 9.00am. If you are interested in having an injection, please get in touch with Jacqui Jillard (j.jillard@adfa.edu.au or x88707) and she will forward you all the necessary information and forms. back to top Vice-Chancellor's Staff Forum As in 2005, the Vice-Chancellor is visiting ADFA to provide an opportunity to discuss with staff some of the issues of strategic importance to the university and respond to questions raised by inidvidual staff members. Professor Wainwright will be visiting ADFA on Wednesday 26 April for a Staff Forum to be held between 4.00 and 5.00pm in Lecture Theatre 7.

Classifieds

The Newsletter is published each Thursday fortnight. If you have something you would like to contribute, please download and complete the submission form and email the information to newsletter@adfa.edu.au by 12 noon on Wednesdays.

For Sale

1987 Damiler 3.6LT, great condition, 11 months NSW rego, new 16/225 tyres, low mileage, rust free, ABS, electric sunroof, elec seats, cruise control, gets 12lts/100klm around town, beautiful to drive. Great buy @ $12,499.00 Contact Bill Doran ext: 88256

Shiatsu Massage Cushion. Fits on your chair, massages back and upper legs, unwanted gift, two year warranty, cost $290.00 sell for $150.00
Contact Bill Doran ext: 88256

House for Rent

Available 1 Oct 2006 - July 2007. Dickson 4 bedroom 2 bathroom plus guest flat with kitchen and toilet/shower. Sunny deck and garden, Garage. Furnished or Unfurnished. $450 per week. Contact Paul Oslington 6268 8720 or p.oslington@adfa.edu.au

Anzac International Military Tattoo

Potter Travel, a coaching company specialist, has tickets on sale for the Anzac International Military Tattoo to be held at the Sydney Superdome on Saturday 22 April 2006. Cost is $155.00 per seat, leaving Canberra at 8.00am and returning the same day at 9.30pm. Please ring 6297 8585 to make your booking. This year's tattoo will feature elite service bands, military, naval and air force units from around the world. A cast of hundreds of Australian and international performers will entertain in dazzling spectacle of pageantry, ceremony, and precision. There will be gaelic dance displays, gymnastic routines, a choir of 200 participants and individual routines by participating international service groups.

2006 Seasoned Slow Day

The Friends of Blue Gum Community School presents the first 2006 Seasoned Slow Sunday event: Sunday March 26th, 1pm to 4pm, Hackett Community Centre, 114 Maitland St, Hackett

Bring the whole family and join in an afternoon of fun, demonstrations, reminiscing and challenges. Bring your Yo-yos, Knuckles, Frisbees and Kites. Join in games including Skipping, Bocce, Elastics, Hand-clapping chants, Hacky Sack, Quoits, Marbles, Hopscotch, Badminton, Hula-hoop, String games and more.

 

Upcoming Events

DATE	TITLE	VENUE
27 March	PEMS - Geography Seminar	11.10 SL1
27 March	Asia Pacific Seminar Series	12.10-1.00 SL1
4 April	PEMS - Mathematics Seminar	12.10 P25 Bldg 26
7 April	Commandant's Morning Tea	Cadets Mess
12 April	UniSuper - Transition to Retirement	1.45-2.45 LT 9
18 April	Enterprise Bargaining	3.40-4.40 Adams Hall
20 April	UNSW@ADFA IT Discussion Forum	2pm Rm152 Bldg 15
24 April	Flu Injections	9.00am SR101
26 April	Vice-Chancellor's Staff Forum	4.00-5.00 LT7
26 April	UNSW@ADFA Reception	5-6.30 Officers Mess
19 June	Asia Pacific Seminar Series	12.10-1.00 SL1
27 June	UniSuper - Contribution Flexibility	12.30-1.30 LT 3

back to top

FREE COMMUNITY LECTURES

The Asia-Pacific Seminar Series

27 March 2006 - SL1 Bldg 21 - 12.10 - 1.00
Australians’ knowledge of Islam & Islam in Indonesia

By Dr Kevin M Dunn - (PEMS)

Abstract: Recent events within Australia, and outside, have drawn attention to Australians’ understandings, and mis-understandings of Islam. Results from a 2003 telephone poll (n: 1311) indicate that only one-fifth of Australians have a reasonable or better knowledge of Islam, and half knew a little about Islam. The sample was stratified for age, gender and state of residence. Males, middle-aged (25-49) and older respondents (50+) were much more likely to claim a fragmentary or better knowledge of Islam. By far the greatest variation in knowledge of Islam was between those with and without some tertiary education. The forms of respondent knowledge of Islam took the form of critique of Muslims, knowledge of Amal (key performances), or understandings of Iman (core theology). Forty-two per cent of respondents stated “they knew a few people who were Muslim”. Older respondents had lower rates of direct contact with Muslims, yet those Australians claimed higher rates of knowledge of Islam, this took the form of the critiques and stereotypes of Islam. A majority of Australians were aware that Islam was the faith followed by most Indonesians. A bare majority of respondents felt that Islam in Indonesia.

The Asia-Pacific Seminar convenors welcome suggestions for seminar speakers and topics.

Please contact 2005 convenors: Minako Sakai (m.sakai@adfa.edu.au), Glenn Banks (glenn.banks@adfa.edu.au), Paul Tickell (p.tickell@adfa.edu.au)

Website: http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/hass/APSS/Apss.html

Enquiries: Taufiq Tanasaldy (apss@adfa.edu.au), tel. (02) 6268 8914
To be included into our mailing list, please email your email address to apss@adfa.edu.au

School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences Seminars

Geography Seminar - Monday 27 March, 11.10, SL1 Bldg 21
Dr Kevin Dunn, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, UNSW "A transnational paradigm for migration? Transnationalism in Australia"

Mathematics Seminar - Tuesday 4 April, 14.40, P25 PEMS Sth Bldg 26 Prof. Elsa Pastor Ferrer, Centre d'Estudis del Risc Tecnològic, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Research background of the Centre for Technological Risk Studies (CERTEC), Technical University of Catalonia (Spain). First steps in forest fire research:
fire retardant effectiveness assessment.

For details and abstracts go to
http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/pems/news/index.html and follow the links to the discipline seminars

UNISUPER SEMINARS DURING SESSION 1, 2006

Wednesday 12 April 2006
Lecture Theatre 9
1.45 pm – 2.45 pm

Topic: Transition to Retirement (i.e. the new rules allowing members to take some super and continue to work) The seminar will cover: government intent, legislative conditions, applications, examples of potential benefits, legislative impacts and financial strategies.

Tuesday 27 June 2006
Lecture Theatre 3
12.30 – 1.30 pm

Topic: Contribution Flexibility (where members will be able to vary contribution levels, from 1 July 2006, within certain limits)

Registering for a Seminar

To register for a seminar, please go to the website below, click on the nominated topic, select the ACT in the drop down menu, click on register. Registration of your attendance will ensure an accurate number of handouts are available. http://www.unisuper.com.au/resources/seminars.cfm

back to top

Got a Story?

If you have something you would like to contribute, please download and complete the submission form and email the information to: Email: newsletter@adfa.edu.au

back to top

Contact Us

Office of the Rector
Phone: 02 6268 8701
Email: newsletter@adfa.edu.au

Do you have a story you would like to contribute?