Excerpts
from IFS and Bits
Newsletter of the Institute of Fundamental
Sciences
Newsletter No 29: 21 August 2000
Edited by: Terri M Palmer
Index
Messages
from the Head of Institute
Well
Done Deborah Kelly
Congratulations
Simon Fielder!!
Departure
of Steven Kennedy
The
Foundations of Knowledge
IFS
Graduate Student Information Evening
IRL
Bursary Presented
This
Month's Puzzle
Answers
to Last Month’s Puzzle
MESSAGES FROM THE HEAD OF INSTITUTE
Professor Waters
It is not often that an Institute/Department or School can boast that it has
two Professor Waters on its staff. The most recent addition, of course, is Joyce
Waters, who was given a Personal Chair recently by Council in recognition of her
lifetime achievements in chemistry research. Needless to say I am delighted that
Council was able to award Joyce this Chair in spite of the fact that she has formally
retired. The situation was unusual but Massey has shown sufficient flexibility
to do the right thing. Naturally, this gives an especial boost to the Institute
at Albany but all of Joyce's colleagues in Palmerston North are equally thrilled
and excited about her elevation. There can be no question that this honour is
not only well deserved but long overdue. Congratulations again from us all.
Arrivals
and Departures
Within the next couple of months four members of staff
will be leaving us. Dave Elgar, after 20 years in the Institute and its earlier
manifestations, has obtained a position as Research Technologist at the NZDRI,
Chris Palliser will move on to the Dairying Research Corporation at Hamilton for
his first permanent position, Rekha Parshot is off to Connecticut, USA and Sonya
Scott is off to Sydney to see the Olympics. In all cases we will miss their contributions
to the Institute. All of us wish each of them every success in their new ventures.
There will be an opportunity later for us to expand on the contributions that
these staff have made to the various programmes that we run. On the arrival front
we are happy to welcome Pru Pim (temporary replacement for Toni Wilson) as PA
to Paul Callaghan and to David Lun, Research Assistant with David Harding. We
are pleased to have both of them with us and trust that they will enjoy their
time at the Institute.
Physics Teachers Evening
The
annual event for physics teachers was held on Friday, 18 August 2000. It was well
attended by an enthusiastic bunch of teachers and the physics staff were also
out in force. Jennie McKelvie undertook the organisation and, as usual, did a
superb job of putting together a programme that the teachers found enjoyable and
of value to them. The programme consisted of an address by Paul Callaghan on "The
Ubiquitous World of the Proton", followed by a talk by Tony Signal on "Cosmology".
Prior to laboratory-based activities the teachers and staff adjourned to Wharerata
for a meal. This side of the activities is extremely worthwhile in that it facilitates
networking, not only between Massey staff and teachers but also amongst the teachers
themselves. I also had the opportunity of telling the teachers that they should
not believe everything that they read in the newspapers and that the College of
Sciences plus the Institute of Fundamental Sciences in particular will be running
a full set of programmes again next year. I hope that this will alleviate some
of the damage that has been done by the Registry in recent times. The whole evening
was a great success and I appreciate the time and effort put into this venture
by Jennie McKelvie and all of the staff in the physics discipline that contributed
to the success of the night's activities. Teachers evenings in general remain
a core activity for us and will do for some time.
Science
Tower A Progress
The demolition is almost completely over and the framing
for the new walls is largely in place. Progress so far has been exceptionally
good and, providing that no problems arise, there is a good chance that we can
move back into Level 2 up to a month before Christmas. It would certainly be a
great help to us if we can get one of the floors in a shipshape condition prior
to the summer vacation period. Equally important is the news that there have been
no additional costs and so the extent to which the project will come in under
budget remains at the expected level. So it is good news all the way as regards
Science Tower A.
David A D Parry
The Institute would like to congratulate Deborah Kelly on obtaining a Massey Doctoral Scholarship. Well done Deborah!!
Robert McKibbin
Simon Fielder underwent a three hour oral examination on Wednesday, 9 August 2000. There were four examiners present (+ an overseas examiner's report) and one candidate which meant that the odds were light and in Simon's favour.
His thesis, entitled Synthesis of a-farnesene autoxidation products and cross-conjugated polyenes will be put forward to the DRC as acceptable as partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy without emendation. It was agreed by all, that the thesis was well written, covered a series of well-designed experiments and the concluding discussions were well presented. The New Zealand examiner, Professor R Smith, University of Otago said "that the thesis is one of the cleanest documents he has ever examined and it is a solid proof for the student's dedication to professionalism". This point was not disputed!
Much of the examination took the form of "theoretical" questioning. In other words because the thesis was so well written and presented, easy to read and answered many questions in the text, discussion of possible mechanisms and probing the depths of Simon's chemistry was appropriate.
Simon's work on the a-farnesene autoxidation products (remember superficial apple scald?) has already been published in several journals. His work on the dendralene chemistry (cross-conjugated polyenes) is very interesting and on its way into the literature. The dendralene studies will, I believe, receive significant notice in the literature in the next few years. On behalf of Dr Mick Sherburn, Dr Daryl Rowan, Professor Rob Smith, Associate Professor Nanthi Bolan and myself, I would ask you to join us in congratulating Simon Fielder.
Dave Harding
THE
DEPARTURE OF STEVEN KENNEDY 
On the 10 August Steven successfully defended his PhD thesis. He was naturally quite relieved after the oral and we celebrated with a lunch at Wharerata. ........ Steven has contributed a lot to the chemical well-being and social life of chemistry and we thank him for his participation and efforts. We wish him all the best on his journey of discovery.
Eric Ainscough
A good number of students turned up to the Careers in Chemistry function on Wednesday, 2 August 2000. Four graduates spoke about their jobs and how they have progressed since their graduation. John Hastie, who used to be employed as the spectroscopy technician here, is now working with New Zealand Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He had just been promoted to the position of quality manager and is enjoying the changed responsibilities. Erin O'Donoghue works as a scientist at Crop and Food and said one of the highlights of her job was the opportunity for travel to overseas conferences. Elizabeth Day, a teacher at Freybery High School at the early stages of her career spoke about the issues facing teachers in chemistry today and gave some idea of the salary structure. Finally, Mike Boland from the NZ Dairy Research Institute gave a run down on his career over a number of years leading to the senior management position he now holds. There were a number of questions from the students for the speakers showing a good interest in what had been said. Food was supplied by the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry and they are thanked for their sponsorship of this event.
Andrew Brodie
IFS GRADUATE STUDENT INFORMATION EVENING
300-Level students from mathematics, chemistry and physics who were interested in finding out about what graduate study is all about attended this year's IFS function on Tuesday, 1 August 2000. After a welcome from Dean Halford and a brief run down of the different qualifications from myself, three of our present students - Patrick Rynhart (maths), Annette McIvor (physics) and Esther Bulloch (chemistry) - talked about what it is like doing 700-level papers and embarking on research. All spoke with enthusiasm and obviously are enjoying what they are doing. There was then an opportunity for the students present to break into the discipline groups for more detailed discussion and questions. Hopefully we will see those that attended here next year! Thanks very much to all the speakers for doing a great job and also to Jo Hislop who represented IFS at the College of Sciences meeting a week earlier.
Andrew Brodie
The winner of the Industrial Research Ltd Bursary in Mathematics for 2000, Brett Ryland, was presented with his certificate and a cheque for $500 by Dr Graham Weir from the Applied Mathematics group at IRL. An opportunity for the presentation was taken at the Third Annual Wellington-Manawatu Applied Maths Day held at Wharerata on 15 June 2000. Brett Ryland is currently studying for an MSc in Mathematical Physics, and won the award for academic merit and potential for advanced study in an area which emphasises the application of Mathematics.
Robert McKibbin
For reasons best known to themselves, 10 students are desperate to go to a party in Ashhurst, 10km away. They can walk at 5km/hr but also have a 2-seater car. Naturally, they do not want to exceed 100km/hr in the car or put more than 2 people in it, which would be dangerous. What is the shortest time in which they can all get to the party?
Robert McLachlan
Answers to Last Month’s Puzzle
| Fellas (AU$) | Manager (AU$) | Concierge (AU$) | Total (AU$) | |
| Before payment | 30 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| After 1st payment | 0 | 30 | 0 | 30 |
| Manager gets soft | 0 | 25 | 5 | 30 |
| Concierge keeps some | 3 | 25 | 2 | 30 |
So, each "fella" has paid $27. The Manager has $25 and the Concierge has $2.
Robert McKibbin