Excerpts from No 66, 14 March 2005
The time has come for us to undertake a discussion of where the Institute is going over the next five to ten years, especially with regard to developments on the Albany and Palmerston North campuses. Generally, we are seeing strong growth at Albany whereas numbers in Palmerston North are relatively static. Should we plan for strong growth on both campuses, or concentrate our efforts at Albany? Should our chemistry and physics offerings on our two campuses be complementary or the same? Should our degree offerings at Albany be complementary to those at the University of Auckland, or should we go head to head with them on similar programmes? Should we concentrate experimental research on one campus and theoretical research on the other? These (and many others not listed here) are hypothetical questions and ones I would wish staff to consider over the coming months.
Many other issues are also important and I believe that the time is opportune for the Institute as a whole to meet some time mid-year to put in place a firm programme for future development. One thing is certain. We cannot and will not allow things to happen and then simply react to them. We must and will drive the changes required to keep us at the forefront of our fields. I will need your help in doing so. Subject meetings will air these issues and other points over the next few months. I am actively seeking your assistance to come up with a plan that has the backing of all members of staff, both academic and general. More about this will also be raised at the Institute meeting to be held in early April.
At the last count, IFS was ahead of last year’s figures with substantial growth in chemistry +17% and physics +10%. Maths is currently down though its numbers are still increasing. In this latter area, second semester enrolments look good so there may have been a shift between first and second semesters this year, for reasons not immediately apparent. Strong growth has occurred in chemistry and physics at Albany with the former doubling in size and physics up by about 36%. This is very pleasing and indicates yet again that science at Albany is really beginning to take off. The establishment of a degree programme there is now of major importance and, as I have indicated above, will be a major focus for us in the coming months.
As a result of the enhanced early retirement package offered to staff, I can report that three staff members have decided to accept early retirement. Udo von Mulert will be leaving us in early April, Neil Pinder will be retiring in July but will continue for a further two years on a research-only contract (33%), Andrew Brodie in April but remaining for a few years on a 40% contract and Barbara Gunn will retire at the end of October. In addition, John Hudson has indicated that he will retire in July. We will therefore see a significant change in staffing over the next 12 months on the Palmerston North campus. We will, of course, have significant staffing changes at Albany too and these are noted later in this newsletter.
In the last issue of IFS & Bits I indicated that the IFS budget had been reduced. It transpires, however, that it is now very much as expected and the minor hiccup related to the non-transfer of the salaries of the Physics staff at Albany from IIMS to IFS. This is being rectified and I do not envisage any insurmountable problems relating to the budget this year.
An Institute meeting will be held on 6 April in the Marsden Lecture Theatre at 12 noon. During the meeting, there will be two main agenda items:
I would appreciate a good turnout since it is necessary for us to commence discussions on the future development of our Institute on both the Palmerston North and Albany campuses. This issue will also be raised at subject meetings over the next few weeks.
Dean Halford, Andrew Brodie and I are currently planning to nominate staff members for fellowships, medals and other forms of external recognition. We had considerable success last year and I am optimistic that we will again see a number of our staff members recognized by the year end.
Recently, a high powered delegation from Peking University in Beijing visited Massey University on all three campuses. The visit went very well and the Vice-Chancellor expressed her thanks to all those staff who took time out from their busy schedules to meet with the delegation and discuss areas of mutual interest. It seems likely that a delegation from Massey University will visit Beijing later this year and we are optimistic that an agreement between our two universities will eventuate. The precise form of such an agreement and the numbers of undergraduate and/or postgraduates involved have yet to be determined. This is an exciting opportunity for the university and the College of Sciences, and we are currently doing our best to ensure a positive result.
The first lecture in the Sir Neil Waters Distinguished Lecture series will be given by Professor Frank Close, who is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Oxford University and Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London. His address, which is entitled “The Particle Odyssey – a Journey to the Heart of Matter Courtesy of Relativity and Rutherford” will be given at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 15 March 2005 at Palmerston North Boys High School in the Speirs Centre. Sir Neil and Lady Waters will be in attendance. The lecture will rotate between the areas of chemistry, mathematics and physics but the first one is in physics since, of course, 2005 is the International Year of Physics and the centenary of Einstein’s trilogy of landmark papers in 1905. I am pleased to report that the Massey Foundation has agreed to provide $5,000 towards this project and their assistance is gratefully acknowledged. Indeed, it is their financial assistance which will allow us to undertake this venture in a way that fully recognizes its importance in the Massey calendar. I strongly encourage all staff to attend and I am sure that this is going to be an outstanding lecture that will be understandable across a wide spectrum. A brief CV of Professor Close is given below.
Prof Frank Close OBE is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Oxford University and Fellow in physics at Exeter College, Oxford. He was formerly Head of Theoretical Physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and was Head of Communications and Public Education at CERN, the European Centre for Particle Physics, from 1997-2000. He has been Fellow of the Institute of Physics since 1991, and was awarded the Institute's Kelvin Medal in 1996 for his contributions to the Public Understanding of Physics.
Educated at St Andrews University and Oxford University, he has published over 200 research papers on theoretical particle physics, and is the author of a text book and 6 popular books on science, the most recent being "The Particle Odyssey". His book "Apocalypse When? - cosmic catastrophe and the fate of the universe" was short listed for the UK Science Book Prize in 1989, being placed ahead of Hawking's Brief History of Time (but regrettably not ahead in sales). His expose of the cold fusion scandal, "Too Hot To Handle" made the lead headlines in The New York Times in 1991. He presented the televised Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1993, which were shown on BBC2, and also gave them live on Japanese television in 1994. He has made numerous radio presentations about science on the BBC World Service for over 25 years and wrote and presented the highly acclaimed "Lucifer's Legacy - the meaning of asymmetry" on BBC Radio 4 in 2003. He has written popular science in The Guardian newspaper for 20 years and his article "The Dark Side of the Moon" (about viewing the total solar eclipse in Zambia) won the prestigious British Science Writers award for "the best article on science in a national newspaper in 2001".
He was Vice President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science with responsibility for the national programme, including National Science week, from 1992-98. He has served on several national and international advisory panels, was Interim Deputy for Science at the USA Jefferson Laboratory during 2000-2003 and is currently chairing a UK Commission investigating the scientific case for human spaceflight as applied to astronomy and geophysics. In 2000 was awarded OBE for "services to research and the public understanding of science".
Simon was recently informed that his 2001 article in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics was in the top 3% of all PCCP papers ranked by downloads during 2004. This is a clear indication of the quality and impact of Simon's research. Well done indeed.
The space on Level One of Science Tower C is now virtually ready for occupation and the horizontal widebore has been re-located to its new home. We are now planning its re-commissioning and this will involve checking its seals, ordering some new ones, planning for a delivery of liquid helium and organizing the technical assistance required. All this will take several weeks and possibly even as much as two months, but we are progressing with all haste. Many thanks go to Bob Parsons for seeing the building plans through to completion and ensuring that everything is done to the standard we require. I think that we can be very pleased with the space we have available and I have every hope that this new collaborative venture will prove to be a great success.
In the last issue of IFS & Bits I omitted to list all the members of the committee that considered the capabilities of the various NMRs on offer. With hindsight, I should have done so and I acknowledge here the tremendous contributions made by Pat Edwards, Geoff Jameson, Bob O’Driscoll, Emily Parker, Steven Pascal and Carol Taylor. It was a difficult and challenging task and I know the considerable work and effort put into it by individuals on the committee. My thanks and appreciation go to them all.
At Albany, the outcome of the appointment of the replacement for Scott Whineray was that two job offers were made. I am not yet in a position to confirm their acceptance, but will give full details of each in due course. I am optimistic that each will accept their offer and that we will have two quite exceptional members of the Physics discipline at Albany later this year. In addition, a shortlist for the Tutor/Senior Tutor position in Physics at Albany has been completed and interviews were held last Friday. Once again, as soon as we have confirmation of an acceptance I will keep staff appraised of the successful candidate’s attributes. These appointments will give our Physics enterprise a massive boost and I am looking forward to welcoming these new members to our staff.
The Maths Tutor position is still in progress and will close later this month. The Maths GA positions have been filled by Philip Zhang and Zifeng Liu. The Physics GA position was not filled and remains open at the present time.
Georgina Cowley will be starting in the IFS office in mid-March and she will bring us up to full strength once again. Tracey and Fiona are currently coping with a very heavy workload so Georgie’s arrival will be very welcome to them, and, indeed, to us all.
I would like to welcome Malcolm Pahl to the Institute. Malcolm has taken over from Patricia Shields as Technician in charge of the 100-level Chemistry laboratories. He already has experience in this area at Otago and is fitting in well. We are delighted to have him with us and trust that he will enjoy his job and find it stimulating. We are hoping that, in due course, Malcolm will become involved as a deputy to Judy Edwards.
Upon Udo's retirement Peter Lewis has agreed to take on the role of Head of Electronic Services. I am delighted that Peter has accepted this role and I wish him every success in this new venture.
David Parry
We would like to take the opportunity to welcome all the Institute's Postgraduate Students into this exciting learning environment at Massey University. We trust that your time with us will not only be enjoyable, but also rewarding. A list of all postgraduate students within the Institute will be circulated in the near future so that you can see who your colleagues are. Listed below are some key contact personnel:
Institute Administrator
Mrs Tracey Royds ScB4.11 2505 ifs@masseyac.nz
Chemistry Graduate Subject Advisor
Professor Geoff Jameson ScB4.07 7177 G.B.Jameson@massey.ac.nz
Mathematics Graduate Subject Advisor
Dr Kee Teo ScB3.25 3572 K.L.Teo@massey.ac.nz
Physics Graduate Subject Advisor
Professor Tony Signal ScC4.26 7844 A.I.Signal@massey.ac.nz
Institute Postgraduate Studies Coordinator
Professor Andrew Brodie ScA4.19 3536 A.Brodie@massey.ac.nz
Administrator, Graduate Studies, College of Sciences
Mrs Kathy Hamilton ScB2.22 5883 K.A.Hamilton@massey.ac.nz
Dean, Graduate Research School
Professor Ken Milne Commercial Centre 5243 K.Milne@massey.ac.nz
The fifth Annual Chemistry Research Symposium was held on Wednesday, February 23rd. It is an opportunity for Chemistry postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows to give a brief summary of their research including recent progress and future plans. This year began with some opening remarks from Trevor Kitson about the central role that electrons play in chemistry and a challenge to the presenters, as chemists, to mention the word “electron” at least once in their talks. I believe most of the presenters were able to respond to the challenge. As in previous years the talks were of a very high standard and all the speakers should be congratulated for their ability to convey the essence of their work succinctly and within the 15 minute time limit (helped of course by the ever-vigilant Mr Blinky). Finally, a special thank you from all involved to Tracey Royds for sorting all the organisational details.
Mark Waterland
Feng Huang arrived at the Institute on 24 March. She obtained her BSc in Applied Physics from Anhui University in China. She is studying for her PhD in Theoretical Physics at Peking University. In the next 6 months Feng will work with Fu-Guang Cao on calculating the “strangeness” in the nucleon. We give Feng a warm welcome to Palmerston North.
Fu-Guang Cao
Not much has changed since the February IFS ‘n Bits. Milk is going awol and the bench is still a mess.
Tea and Coffee is normally available from 9.40 am to 3.40 pm. The University/Institute is only obliged to provide facilities for morning/afternoon tea and at lunch time.
The mind boggles at the unclaimed copies left lying around.
On a more colourful note, a new colour laser printer is to be purchased and located in the IFS Office (PN).
This printer will be for genuine IFS documents and not for colour copies of menus etc.
Udo von Mulert has expressed a wish to retire from the Institute on 1 April 2005. I wish Udo a long and happy retirement and thank him for his advice and friendship.
Thanks to those members of staff who have responded to the requirement for completion of Compliance Check Sheets. This must be done at the start of each semester and is designed to provide students with information regarding safety procedures and exits. Check sheets should be returned to IFS Offices at Albany and Turitea.
The Smou is still to be approved by University Management. When this has been done, training sessions will be arranged for Laboratory Facility Directors and then for Laboratory Managers. Time scale for the CoP and Smou to be implemented is by the start of semester 2.
The NMR Lab now has its 4th Superconducting Magnet in place, albeit in a room of its own and still to be commissioned. The Horizontal Wide-Bore 200 MHz Superconducting magnet once commissioned will add to the suite of magnets already within IFS. This facility is unique to New Zealand and possibly Australia.
Bob Parsons
AMN-2, the Second International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, was organized by the MacDiarmid Institute and held at the Millennium Hotel in Queenstown, New Zealand from 6 - 11 February 2005. The purpose of the conference was to promote international collaborations in the broad areas of advanced materials and nanotechnology, with particular emphasis on emerging technologies. Technical symposia included high standard talks on conducting polymers, functional materials, nanoengineered materials and nanolithography, nanoscale optics, nanotube growth and device concepts were of interest for our group out of many other talks given by the eminent scientists in the field. Two Nobel Laureates attended the conference; Prof. Alan MacDiarmid, Nobel laureate, 2000 in chemistry (conducting polymers) and Prof. Klaus von Klitzing, Nobel laureate, 1985 in physics (quantum Hall effect).
Nanomaterials Research Centre (NRC) and MacDiarmid Institute members participated actively in the conference with talks and posters from Prof. David L. Officer, Dr Sanjeev Gambhir, Dr Pawel Wagner, Dr Mark Waterland, Dr Uli Zuelicke, Dr Bill Williams, Alex Le Blanc, Amy Ballantyne and Yvonne Ting attracting the interest of many scientists working in this area.
David Officer
Mark Waterland enjoying the NZIC Inorganic and Organic Chemistry Meeting at Portage,
Marlborough Sounds December 2004.
Bruce van-Brunt, Igor Boglaev, Aroon Parshotam, Dean Halford, Robert McLachlan and Marijcke Vlieg went to Napier to attend the 41st Australia New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ANZIAM2005) Conference held from 31 January to 3 February noon. The venue was the War Memorial Conference Centre on the beachside of the Marine Parade giving (weather permitting) spectacular views over the bay from Cape Kidnappers across to Mahia Peninsula. Most conference delegates stayed in a luxurious hotel across from the Conference Centre, some others in 4 (5) star motels on the Marine Parade but Bruce stayed at the Masonic Hotel which is Napier’s largest Art Deco Hotel. The original Masonic Hotel was destroyed by the 1931 earthquake and subsequent fire. Bruce reckoned that his bed and mattress must have been at least 70 years old…
Those of us who had read Wednesday’s Dominion Post would have been aware that it was 75 years ago that Napier was hit by an earthquake at 46 minutes and 46.3 seconds after 10.00 am on Tuesday February 3, 1931, with magnitude 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Fortunately this event was not repeated.
ANZIAM is held every four years in New Zealand and in the other years in Australia. It is the custom to have these gatherings at ‘remote’ tiny places so that the mathematicians can devote their time entirely to proving theorems and solving problems instead of indulging in the pleasures of city life. It is usually not straight forward to get to those resorts from international airports and this is even worse on the other side of the Tasman Sea. The last venue in New Zealand was Waitangi.
The conference was very well attended by both countries (140) and there were about 120 talks and these were of high standard. Robert McLachlan was an invited speaker and talked about ‘Geometric Numerical Integration’. It was very pleasant to catch up and compare notes with colleagues and friends from New Zealand and Australia. We were welcomed with drinks and a barbeque on Sunday evening.
Although one may not really regard Napier as a proper remote tiny place, it came close to it on Monday night when a subgroup of Massey mathematicians (plus one Victorian) wanted to have a meal in a restaurant. For some reason nearly all eating places are closed on a Monday night. Thanks to Aroon having a cell phone, we managed to find a Thai Restaurant on the Marine Parade that was open. And the food was delicious…
Unfortunately the weather was not very inviting. It drizzled on and off which was a pity, especially for the Australian contingent. It also was not very helpful when it came to the excursions. The trip to Cape Kidnappers became a wet and muddy affair. The tour to four vineyards was also a wet affair but more on the inside than the outside.
Marijcke Vlieg-Hulstman
At breakfast time a small penguin was seen from the dining room. The base nearly tipped over as everyone rushed to have a look. We had seen tracks out on our trips to the airfield etc but did not think we would see a penguin so close to home. I went down to get a closer look and it had met up with another penguin and they started courting! They then moved off toward our ski field, which was a few kilometres distant and definitely further away from the sea. Another of our workers watched them later in the afternoon and they came right up to him – amazing. After work our manager had organised a trip to the Polar Star, an American Coast Guard ice breaker. It was in port after breaking its way in from out by Cape Royds. Our tour guide was Seaman Hill and he was pleased to see us and showed us all over the vessel.
Trip to Obo Hill – February 2005
 Icebreaker Channel to McMurdo |
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 Looking for Scott from ObHill |
Plaque to Scott and Party |
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Trip to Cape Bird – February 2005
Our trip to Cape Bird involved the following people: Rob Turner (team leader), Hedley Berge (electrician), Scott Iremonger (mechanic) and, of course, myself.
We were to do some repairs and close the camp down for winter. This involved fitting two new windows, altering some electrical circuits to make way for the windows, painting the roof, sorting the shed out by fitting shelves and a bench and installing the fuels and flammable goods there, stocktaking the food cache, fuels and first aid kits and finally stockpiling all the rubbish at the helo pad ready for return to Scott Base.
Scotter off to the shed
The week previous was spent preparing parts and fittings ready to go on the helo. When this was all staged at the helo pad all we had to do was wait for the weather to improve enough to fly to Cape Bird.
The day came and we loaded the aircraft with all our tools and kit, then lifted off in cloudy weather heading around the southern side of Mt Erebus. As we reached the west of Erebus the cloud went a lot higher and visibility improved. It was beautiful. We could see the icebreakers working the channel to McMurdo, and the tourist ship "The KK" moving north through the channel. Then we turned north and saw some huge icebergs, not the troublesome ones but big nonetheless and before we knew it we were easing down the side of a land mass toward the beach and an easy landing with a welcoming party of the penguin bothering team. We unloaded our gear, loaded their gear and then it was time for goodbyes as our helo was flown by our friend Rob from Helicopters New Zealand. He and Dave, the helo mechanic, were to pack up the helo that night and head back to NZ in a couple of days. They had been with us supporting the Antarctic programme from the start and it was sad to see them go.
You want me to jump that?
Where to next?
Then came the hard part. We had to ferry all our gear up to the hut about 500 metres away and 30 m up on a little ledge above the beach. We had to land a fair distance away due to the penguins getting upset if we landed closer. As soon as we had the gear stowed we sat down to a cup of tea and a coord conference on what and who were to carry out the various tasks at hand. The weather cleared and it was brilliant and warm, a truly beautiful site to work at. The windows were being fitted up and electrical work done whilst Scotty and I repaired the door to the shed then started on clearing up surplus bits and pieces ready for return to Scott base. After dinner, yes guys can cook! we walked down to the beach to see the penguins and the ice formations, great stuff.
Next day the roof was cleaned and painted, the shed got emptied out and sorted, then the shelves and bench went in, the shelves mainly to tidy up the fuels and paints found scattered throughout the other buildings, and the bench to give the staff somewhere outside the lab to work or do repairs. Two trap doors that led to under the hut were repaired and hinges replaced ready now to face the winter. Once again after dinner we went to the beach and watched the birds, seals and sea doing their thing. The light is changing now and it adds a whole new dimension to the colours around us especially when it hits the icebergs. The bergs move quite rapidly in the night and when you wake up its always a different seascape you see.
The penguins are hard case and seem to have their own characters, which we compare to human characters and behaviour, which in itself makes you laugh.
The Creché
The Skuas take a heavy toll on the little fur ball penguin chicks and the rookeries look like a battlefield with corpses littering the landscape and every now and then you see adult penguins giving the Skuas a hard time whilst defending their charges. The penguin chicks at this point are about the same size as the adults but are covered in a grey down, which is warm but not very waterproof. Skuas in flight are magnificent to behold especially when swooping down trying to keep you away from their territory. They take on a different light when flying and do look beautiful as opposed to their land-based looks, which resemble a very dirty seagull. The seals will let you approach quite close and will move away if they are not happy with your presence.
What Seal?
All the pups are gone and its only adults lounging around on the ice now, soaking up the summer sun. In the evening we had a visit from an American helicopter which brought a student out to study the feasibility of relowering the camp using various means. When they left we asked if the pilot was to be the same guy who would pick us up. He replied he was, so we asked if he would take some of the gear already on the beach back to SB for us. He said he would.
Morning of the third and final day, and we clear up the last of the little jobs as we are due to be flown home again at about 9pm tonight. When we checked the beach this morning the helo had only taken a little bit of our gear! We took our final photos and had our last wander around the site to check all was ready for winter, then we moved the remainder of the gear and stuff down to the beach in readiness for our flight home.
The helo duly arrived landed and shut down. When the pilot saw the stuff he had to load into his chopper he said he wished he had taken more last night.
He joked that he used to be a truck driver so we should get it all in. We did with only enough space for the four of us to squeeze in amongst it and nothing to spare.
The days at Cape Bird had been splendid, the evenings amazing and the flight home into cloud again magical.
A job well done and an experience never to be repeated.
Winter Close Out – February 2005
Here are some photos from the winter close out. The last plane out, our flag ceremony and the winter dinner was followed by a live transmission from Christchurch of the Antarctic symphony, which had some awesome classical music and images of the Antarctica, with readings by Sir Ed. We were connected to the auditorium where the performance was based and the audience could see us on one of the screens (not all the time thank goodness). The food was excellent and the sunset awesome.
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 Mt Terror and the moon |
Flat Down for Winter (Steve – 5th from RHS)
