| Winner of the prestigious Rennie Medal, Dr Stephen Blanksby Winner of the prestigious Rennie Medal, Dr Stephen Blanksby |
UOW chemist wins prestigious research award
30 Nov 2007 | Renee Criddle
The Rennie Medal has been presented annually since 1931, and Dr Stephen Blanksby is the first ever University of Wollongong academic to receive the prestigious honour.
Presented by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the medal is a ‘young thrusters’ award for achievement in chemical research.
Each year, the RACI recognises the achievements of Australian chemists in a range of categories and 17 national awards are presented.
RACI is the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry with over 6,000 members.
The Rennie medal is named after Edward Henry Rennie (1852 – 1927), the first Angas chair of chemistry and the first Dean of Science at the University of Adelaide.
Dr Blanksby, who was presented with the award at a dinner held in Sydney recently, is a graduate of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Adelaide.
“I actually attended lectures in the Rennie lecture theatre during my time at Adelaide,” he said.
Dr Blanksby first experience of research was a third-year undergraduate project in the field of gas phase ion chemistry under the supervision of Professor John Bowie.
“Although bewildering at first, the experience of manipulating molecules in the gas phase and elucidating their intrinsic reactivity by mass spectrometry quickly proved both fascinating and addictive,” he said.
After completing a PhD, Dr Blanksby continued his research in Berlin and Colorado before joined the UOW community in 2002 and quickly got to work building a research group that he said, like him, enjoys putting the ‘fun’ back into fundamental ion chemistry.
“Studying the intrinsic behaviours of reactive oxygen species such as peroxyl radicals, ozone and superoxide underpin a range of collaborations and provide new analytical protocols in support of applications as diverse as lipidomics, coating technologies and defence.”
Dr Blanksby is a member of the RACI, founding member of the SMC and Vice-President of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry.
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