Martin Betts, 46
Dean of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
Civil engineer, Reading University, UK

Professor Martin Betts regards his most significant challenge in the past 12 months to have been the integration of sustainable development and professionalism into the curricula in engineering, design and construction courses at QUT for an undergraduate and postgraduate student body numbering about 5000.
He has a background in construction and construction management and has a PhD in construction tendering from the UK Council for National Academic Awards. He rose to prominence in this field in the UK before coming to Australia and was instrumental several years ago in convening the input of seven universities as part of the UK National Centre of Excellence for UK Construction IT Research and Innovation Strategy. He was honoured with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for this work.
His interests outside work include spending time with his children and partner, travel and watching sport.

David Skellern, 56
Chief Executive Officer of National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA), Sydney
Electrical engineer, Sydney University

Dr David Skellern is one of Australia’s most successful ICT entrepreneurs, with a strong background in research, education, collaboration, and commercialisation. He became interim CEO of NICTA in May 2005 and was confirmed for a further 3-year appointment as its CEO in February 2006.
Last year NICTA received a second round of federal funding of $251 million under the federal government’s Backing Australia’s ability initiative. NICTA now has 410 staff, 296 of which are researchers. It also provides resources for 252 PhD students.
In 1997 he cofounded the Radiata group of companies in Australia and the USA, established to commercialise the results of the WLAN research project that he led at Macquarie University in collaboration with CSIRO.He was appointed to the NICTA board in 2003.
His main interests outside work are kayaking and dancing.

Geoff Garrett, 59
Chief Executive of CSIRO, Canberra
Metallurgist, Cambridge University, UK

Since joining CSIRO as chief executive in January 2001, Dr Geoff Garrett and his team have been seeking to achieve greater focus on the major scientific challenges and opportunities for Australia. This has involved developing stronger partnerships across CSIRO’s innovation system, and growing the organisation’s impact through a unified “one-CSIRO” approach.
Garrett has been instrumental in setting up the organisation’s flagship programs, initially operating in the six areas of preventative health, energy, water, light metals, food production and marine research.
Independently reviewed as “delivering powerful scientific solutions to national problems”, this major program was further extended in the recent federal budget to cover climate adaptation, mineral exploration and manufacturing, as well as alternative, clean transport fuels.
A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Garrett serves on the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.
He is a recipient of the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society through
science.
Apart from family, his main interests outside work are tennis and fishing.

Tamarapu Sridhar, 57
Dean of Engineering at Monash University, Melbourne
Chemical engineer, Madras University, India

A Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, Tam Sridhar has been dean of the Engineering Faculty at Monash University since 2003. The faculty has more than 3500 undergraduate and 400 postgraduate students, boosted significantly by its part in Monash’s Malaysian branch.
A chemical engineer with expertise in polymers and reaction engineering, Sridhar has a distinguished research record. His current work includes gas liquid reactions, organic oxidations and polymer rheology.
Before his dean appointment Sridhar served as chairman of Monash’s chemical engineering department for 11 years. He was chairman of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in Australia in 2004/2005. He was also president of the Australian Society of Rheology and a founding editor of the Korea-Australia Journal of Rheology.
In his spare time he enjoys golf and
reading.

Paul Greenfield, 60
Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland
Chemical engineer, University of NSW

Professor Paul Greenfield is responsible for the financial performance and strategic direction of the faculties and institutes of the University of Queensland. He has been in his current role since 2002.
He was recently appointed by Queensland’s Smart State Council to advise the premier on key strategic issues for economic
advancement.
Currently, he chairs the Scientific Expert Panel for the Southeast Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership, which is finalising its next five-year plan to protect and improve the rivers, estuaries and bays in SE Queensland . He is also the chair of an international expert advisory panel to review and advise on technical, health and environmental issues related to using purified recycled wastewater in SE Queensland, chair for the Hazardous Waste Technical Committee and a member of the Clean Coal Technology Project Board.
In 1975 he joined the University of Queensland as a lecturer in chemical engineering and a decade later became head of department and then pro-vice-chancellor of physical sciences and engineering before being appointed an inaugural executive dean in 1997.
Greenfield’s hobbies include blues and jazz music, photography, art and travel.

Geoff Stevens, 52
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President of the Academic Board at the University of Melbourne
Chemical engineer, RMIT

Professor Geoff Stevens is the pro-vice chancellor of the University of Melbourne. He is a leading chemical and biomolecular engineer and director of Melbourne University’s Particulate Fluids Processing Centre, an ARC Special Research Centre. He is also a past head of the university’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a past deputy dean of the School of Graduate Studies. In these senior academic positions he played a key role in influencing academic strategy and policy at a university that consistently rates in the very top tier of Australian universities.
Stevens has an international reputation in separation technology, solvent extraction, interfacial engineering, soft tissue engineering and cold-temperature waste processing. His recent work on CO2 removal from flue gas, as part of the CO2 CRC, is now moving to the demonstration stage.
His favourite hobby is sailing his 8m yacht Alandor.

Gregory Hancock, 59
Dean of Engineering and Information Technologies at the University of Sydney
Structural engineer, Sydney University

Professor Gregory Hancock is dean of engineering and information technologies at the University of Sydney, a faculty with 4000 students. In addition, he is currently involved with the University Senior Executive to develop the new University of Sydney Faculty Cluster of Engineering and Architecture in his role of executive dean engineering and architecture.
Over the past year, he has been working on the integration of the School of IT into the faculty including the development of a flexible first year program to include both engineering and IT students.
He has also been working on the establishment of Engineering Sydney, the University of Sydney engineering faculty’s external links organisation which brings industry and students together.
Hancock balances his dean position with duties as the Bluescope Steel professor of steel structures. He is also a director of the Australian Steel Institute and the CRC for Advanced Composite Structures
He has a PhD and DEng from the University of Sydney and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 for his work on Australian and International Standards.
Hancock enjoys swimming, walking and visiting exhibitions at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Elizabeth Taylor, 52
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health at Central Queensland University
Civil engineer, University of NSW

Professor Elizabeth Taylor has implemented in her faculty a pioneering structure and management systems to support staff engaged in innovative curricula and research that “moves beyond existing higher education assumptions”. The discipline breadth of the faculty, interdisciplinary capability and strong industry partnerships are conducive to meeting the “Changing the culture” challenges set by the 1996 review of engineering education. The faculty has nearly 9500 students including 1600 studying engineering related programs.
Taylor is also president of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans and the chair of the Queensland Board of Professional Engineers, the first woman to hold that position. The seven-member board administers the Queensland Professional Engineers Act 2002, which provides for the registration of professional engineers in Queensland.
She is deputy chair of the Board of Engineers Media, publisher of Engineers Australia magazine, and a member of the board and international representative of RedR Australia (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief). Since 2005 she has been a member of the Queensland Manufacturing Leaders Group. In 1996 she was president of Engineers Australia’s Sydney Division and for some years was the coordinator of the National Women in Engineering Committee.
In 2004, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to engineering education and professional associations, and for her role in enhancing the status of women in the profession.
Her main interests are reading, travelling and playing cards with family and friends.

Archie Johnston, 54
Dean of Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney
Civil engineer, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

Professor Archie Johnston is dean of one of the world’s leading faculties in practice-based engineering education, at the University of Technology Sydney. There are currently 2900 undergraduates and 1500 postgraduates in engineering at UTS.
As an advisory professor to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and an adviser to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, Johnston is exploring the participation of the higher education sector in stimulating new and interesting business and industry opportunities in these countries.
He is the member of the board of Engineering Australia’s Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management, the Editorial Board of the Indian Centre for Advanced Scientific and Technological Research and continues to serve on the ARC Centre of Excellence in Autonomous Systems Board and as an International Expert on the Australian Research Council Panel.
In 2006 the faculty celebrated the 25 year anniversary of the UTS’s Women in Engineering Unit, the longest serving unit of its kind in Australia. 14% of the student body in engineering at UTS are female.
Johnston has six young children and participates in a range of community activities.

Ian Young, 50
Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne
Civil engineer, James Cook University, Townsville

Professor Ian Young is vice-chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, which is a dual-sector university comprising both higher education and TAFE components.
Swinburne has over 35,000 full-time students with approximately 5000 engineering students. It is the most technology focused university in Australia with 48% of its students in science, engineering or technology disciplines.
Young has proposed a new method to enhance the university performance of students who underachieved at secondary school. These students can significantly improve their performance by completing a pathway program within TAFE before progressing to degree studies. This concept has formed the basis of a number of new schemes funded
nation-wide in the 2007 Federal Budget.
He is a fan of many sports and enjoys playing golf.

Anthony Lucey, 51
Dean of Engineering at Curtin University, Perth
Mechanical engineer, Cambridge University, UK

Professor Anthony Lucey is dean of engineering at Curtin, a faculty with close to 2000 students. The faculty graduates about 350 each year and supports more than 180 postgraduates.
Lucey has a masters degree majoring in mathematics and fluid mechanics from Cambridge and a PhD in the “Hydroelastic instability of flexible surfaces” from Exeter University.
He sees helping to win the National Carrick award for enhancing the first year experience at Curtin as one of his major achievements in the past year. The faculty has adopted a first-year program which fuses curriculum, student environment, delivery methods and community involvement to create a better student experience, cutting the first-year attrition rate from the 15%-20% national average to just 5%.
The faculty has also recently recruited 15 new academic staff to meet an increased demand for engineering courses.
He believes one of the greatest challenges for engineering educators is meeting the needs of an ever more diverse student body while satisfying the evolving requirements of employers with a student-centred learning environment.
Lucey’s interests and hobbies revolve around creative writing, literature, music and keeping his 1949 Series One Land Rover roadworthy. He also plays faculty soccer and helps to raise three young children.

Engineers Australia Magazine, Volume 79 No 6, June 2007.

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