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Professor Graeme Clark (right) and Professor Gordon Wallace at the pr... |
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Brianna Thompson from IPRI delivered a special farewell presentation ... |
Inaugural presentation of Bill Wheeler scholarship
Chief Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Electromaterials Science (ACES), Professor Graeme Clark, this week presented the Bill Wheeler Scholarship to Tim Higgins who is undertaking the final honours year of a degree in nanotechnology.
This year marks the inaugural Bill Wheeler Scholarship to support research on any aspect of nanobionics.
The scholarship supports research in the final year of an honours degree in science or engineering at the University of Wollongong.
Bill Wheeler was a very community-minded person who devoted time to the Rotary Club of Kiama and to disadvantaged children. He took a special interest in the further development of the cochlea implant for deafness and the new research at UOW on spinal cord repair. [Professor Clark was the inventor of the cochlear implant and is also part of the team working on spinal cord repair research.]
Executive Research Director of ACES, Professor Gordon Wallace, said it was ironic that in Bill Wheeler’s final illness he had a spinal cord collapse.
“He was a man who looked to the future and would have wanted young researchers with enthusiasm and a vision for science that will help others to have support as exemplified by this scholarship scheme,” Professor Wallace said.
Meanwhile, Brianna Thompson gave a special farewell presentation from the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) before she takes up a position at Monash University.
Brianna completed her honours degree in Biotechnology (Advanced Program) at the University of Wollongong in 2004. She was awarded several prizes during the course of her undergraduate study, including the Gina Savage Prize for the best female graduate in Science in 2004.
Brianna has recently submitted her PhD thesis, completed at IPRI on applications of conducting polymers as controlled release substrates in tissue engineering and regeneration.
She will be moving to Monash University in April to work with Professor Doug MacFarlane on preserving the structure and function of proteins using ionic liquids.
The topic of her IPRI presentation was “Controlled release of nerve growth factors from polypyrrole films for auditory nerve rescue”.