IChemE members honoured at Chemeca 2017

MEMBERS of IChemE were presented with awards of excellence at Chemeca 2017, to celebrate their contributions to the chemical engineering community in Australia and New Zealand.

The Chemeca Medal, which is the highest honour from the Australian and New Zealand Federation of Chemical Engineers (ANZFChE), was presented to Judy Raper, who is a renowned expert in particle technology and deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Wollongong.

Raper is the second woman to receive the award since its introduction in 1982, and used her keynote speech, “Mind the Gap: Addressing the Innovation Gaps”, to talk about the need for greater diversity in engineering, and the benefits of diversity to innovation.

The Chemical Engineering Research Excellence Award was given to Fariba Dehghani for her dedication in building an international team of researchers and industrial partners at the University of Sydney. Her group’s work is focussed upon finding pragmatic, environmentally-friendly solutions to a range of societal issues.

Simon Casey was presented with the inaugural IChemE Safety Centre (ISC) Award, for his outstanding work supporting the activities of ISC to advance process safety in the region. Casey was one of the first Australian engineers to achieve Professional Process Safety Engineer status, and continues to provide his expertise to help facilitate process safety workshops, competency guidance, undergraduate education and industrial training.

RMIT University’s Nicky Eshtiaghi won the Caltex Teaching Award for her inclusive approach to education, and Cordelia Selomulya was presented with the Fonterra Award for her ground-breaking research in biotechnology and food engineering at Monash University. Karan Bagga scooped the ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions Medal and Prize.

IChemE medals were also presented by IChemE president John McGagh and its chief executive, Jon Prichard. University of Waikato’s Martin Atkins was recognised with the Hanson Medal for his article Choice Cuts , published in The Chemical Engineer in October 2016. The article looks at New Zealand’s journey into renewable energy and lessons learned.

University of Melbourne’s Kathryn Mumford was presented with IChemE’s Warner Prize, which recognises early career chemical engineers who have shown exceptional promise in the field of sustainable chemical process technology. Mumford has made major contributions to polar remediation, carbon capture and storage, and slow-release fertilisers. Her work has also included developing biochemical processes to clean up fuel spillages in Antarctica.

The theme of this year’s Chemeca conference was “Innovation through Science and Engineering”, and the prize-giving ceremony was held on 25 July at Melbourne Cricket Ground.