Welcome to the
first on-line edition of Solvents & Small Talk.
This monthly bulletin with information on the various comings, goings, events
and other news worthy occasions will be distributed to all members of the department.
We hope you enjoy the read and find some tit bit of info you may not have known!
Any items you wish included in next months bulletin should be sent to the editor
(Michelle Mackay) by the 25th of the month.
Many thanks to Engineering Web Team in the Faculty for her help in getting the bulletin
on-line!
Monday 15th August
Prof Peter Scales
Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Elisabeth Murdoch Building - Theatre A, Sludges, Slimes & the Environment
Thursday 18th August
A/Prof Devon A. Shipp, Dept of Chemistry, Clarkson University, USA
Living Radical Polymerizations: Mechanisms, Kinetics and Nanocomposites
PACE Seminar
PFPC Seminar Series
Please refer to the PFPC seminar email for updated information
Arrivals
Staff
Dr Abbas Khan started on 26th
of July working with Prof William Ducker. Abbas will be
working on Surface Chemistry and is situated in Bio 20 (Old Radiation).
Abbas had an "unofficial" welcome
to the life of a Chem Engie at Friday nights farewell to Brendan
Gladman and Liz Cashen. Hope you had fun!
Dr Christian Kugge commenced work on Monday 25th of July with Prof Frank Caruso. Christian is working on the new iCeutica funded project. I'm not sure at this point exactly where Christian is located but I'm sure he is not too far away from the Nano labs!
Dr Kathy Northcott is back! Kathy is back working with Prof Geoff Stevens on his Antarctic Project, specifically In-Situ Remediation Technologies for Cold Region Contaminated Sites. She is located in postgraduate office two, east wing of building one.
Postgraduates
Greg Martin commenced his PhD with A/Prof Dave Dunstan and is located on the second floor of the west wing of building one. Greg - welcome back to student life! Greg's project is Physico-chemical studies of milk powder rehydration.
Tor Kit Goh has just enrolled working with Dr Greg Qiao. His project is Synthesis and application of super nano gels.
Visitors
Dr Richard Buscall will be with us for the next two weeks. His location is constantly changing so contact Annmaree Sharkey or Tabitha Cesnak for an update on his location!
Occupational Trainees
We have nine new trainees due in October! more information later
Casuals/Vacation
No new news this month!
Exchange/Work Experience
Four of the above nine Occ Trainees are exchange undergraduate students from Thailand. The "visa" wait is now on.
Our two high school work experience students have completed their stay and the feedback has been great. Anyone wishing to know more or volunteer for students should contact Tamara or Lisa.
Departures
Farewell to...
Liz Cashen has now left the department however she is still
a member of the University. Her new position in the Faculty
of Medicine has taken her back to her roots - Themis Financials!. We will all miss
Liz but I'm sure we can catch her doing the coffee run at the
Alan Gilbert building!
Brendan Gladman has submitted his Thesis and has jetted off to Egypt (oh for the life of a student! - ed)
Elizabeth Hill is moving on soon. Her new position at Melbourne Ventures will see her venture off to Gratten St!
Paul Gurr is also on the move. The 19th of August is Paul's last day.
Ilya Tchivilev has gone on to greener "IT" pastures. Ilya and Liz Cashen were part of an original group of 8 -10 students employed to assist with Themis when it was first introduced. Ilya and Liz were surviving star "pupils" and both will be missed.
Johanna Streegstra has completed her employment and I believe has also jetted off to Egypt......!!
On Leave
Vera is back! For those of you
who are relatively new to the department Vera started work
in 2003 and very quickly made herself at home - thankfully!
In 2004 Vera presented the department with some disastrous
news - she was moving to Canberra! (and was resigning!).
We managed to convince Vera that she could not live without
us and in the words of my 4 year old "I told you so!" WELCOME
HOME!! Anyone who wishes to know more about Vera and her exploits
should just use the magic word - SHOES!
Kevin Smeaton is away for the first week in August. Plesae
see Leigh or Justin in his absence.
Peter Rutherford will be away again in September and October
Jilska Perera is away for most of August
Awards
There will be important annoucement on 11th August.
Keep your eyes on the Chem & Bio Eng home page www.chemeng.unimelb.edu.au
$ Success
Prof Peter Scales project "Stabilisers for nanoparticles and their use in nanoparticle synthesis" with Imperial Chemical Industries PLC has now commenced. A postgraduate student is required. Please see Annmaree for more information.
Kitchen
Duty
Duty staff for kitchen clean up this month are:
1 - 5 August Nic Myers
8 - 12 August Angus Johnston
15 - 19 August David Verrelli,
22 - 26 August Peter Rutherford,
29 August - 2 September Viyada Tirtaatmadja
All Jamie Oliver/Donna Hay wannabe's should now register with Vera!
Safety/Security
Safety
Copies of Australia Standard AS2243 Safety in Laboratories are still being distributed. Apologies for the delay, we have been waiting on the final delivery of dividers.
The new electrical testing equipment is awaiting a final "fine tuning" and should be ready for service soon. All users will get a brief training on the use of the new equipment.
Security
As you are all aware we have had a recent spate of thefts and strangers in the department. The department encourages everyone to question anyone who is unidentified and/or unaccompanied however this can be difficult in a department so big. What a great reason to attend the "Monday morning teas"! We are also getting as many pictures of staff and students on the web as possible. If you are still uncertain as to a persons "identity" why not simply introduce yourself. You may just find your next squash/rowing/dancing/drinking partner.
The following University web site is a must read for everyone: Confronting
Suspicious Persons
This of course leads us into theft from
offices and laboratories. Unfortunately the department is unable
to guarantee the security of locked offices and laboratories.
There are various departments within the University who have
and need access to our facilities, eg Cleaning, Security, Building
Supervisors etc. This is one reason for the various amounts of
excess applied to claims involving computers. See the following
web page: Insurance.
In
summary No excess will be applied where the Department
is able to demonstrate that at the time of the theft, the room
was locked and the computer equipment was secured and marked.
The department recommends that all staff and students have access
to a drawer or a cupboard or a filing cabinet that can be kept
secured by a key other than the door key. If you do not have
access to any of the above please contact Keith Barnard (46635)
asap. It is recommended that all personal, computer and other "attractive" items
be kept secured in the cupboard/drawer/cabinet at all possible
times.
IT
Issues
Our only IT issue this month is Vincent's move! Vincent and Peter Rutherford are now located in Bio20 (Old Radiation) on the first floor. Their phone numbers remain the same.
News
from HR
Most of you would have seen or heard the news regarding HEWRR's (Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements). Under the new legislation the University is obligated to offer AWA's (Australian Workplace Agreements) to ALL staff. All staff will, by June 2006, receive a letter offering them the choice between the current EBA and the new AWA.
More information can be obtained from Tamara or the HR web page www.hr.unimelb.edu.au.
Please talk to Tamara if you intend on employing any full time or casual staff in the next 3 months.
The current method of processing casual time sheets is changing. Casual staff now have the ability to input their hours directly into Themis. There will be an information session on Friday 5th August for Semester Two demonstrators and markers, where Tamara will demonstrate the new system. All other existing casual staff "watch this space"!
REMINDER!
Due to the rising costs of keys all undergraduate students (including Research Project and Vacation students) are required to pay a deposit prior to the issue of keys. $20 per key is required, cash or credit card accepted. Please ensure you inform your students prior to signing pink forms. This information is also contained in the 2005 Undergraduate Handbook.
Other
MUCESS - if you haven't already visited
the new MUCESS web site - now is a great time. They have even
started their own newsletter!
mucess.chemeng.unimelb.edu.au
2005 Publications Database is now open
- please keep sending all you published articles to Lilian/Vera/Annmaree/Liz
S/Tabitha or Christine.
Please do not wait until the due date
to submit.
