Gostomski wins IChemE Hanson Medal

PETER GOSTOMSKI has received IChemE’s 2015 Hanson Medal, awarded annually for the best article published in the Institution’s member magazine, The Chemical Engineer.

His article Down but not out, published in October 2014, charts the efforts of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, to keep its facilities running following the two devastating earthquakes that shook the city of Christchurch in 2010 and 2011.

The first earthquake, in September 2010, made headlines around the world. But it was the follow-on in February 2011 – technically an aftershock – that devastated the city and shut down the university campus for weeks.

Gostomski, head of Canterbury’s chemical and process engineering department and an IChemE Fellow, describes how the department rallied round to keep research projects going and minimise the impact on the university’s teaching programme – the second earthquake had struck just at the start of a new academic year. The disruption, and the ongoing aftershocks, affected the department for most of the year, particularly after structural engineers declared one of the department’s key buildings as unsafe.

“It is a remarkable story of perseverance, and cooperation among university departments and the wider community in the face of what was clearly an incredibly traumatic time,” says Adam Duckett, editor of The Chemical Engineer. “While Peter notes that it’s not clear whether a significant amount of planning would have helped the department deal any better with the situation, he offers valuable lessons around safety processes and communication that I expect others will find relevant for their own business continuity plans.”

IChemE’s president Jonathan Seville presented Gostomski with the 2015 Hanson Medal at the Chemeca conference held in Adelaide, Australia in late September.

Nominations for the 2016 Hanson Medal close on 31 October. Visit www.icheme.org/medals for further information and to download a nomination form.

Read Down but not out here