PMs Science Prizes

Srini first gained a Masters in Electrical Engineering in his home town of Bangalore in India before turning his attention to exploring the links between human vision and engineering.

After a PhD at Yale University, and work at the Australian National University and the University of Zurich, Srini returned to ANU in 1985 to join a major project on an exploration into how insects perceive the three-dimensional world and manoeuvre in it.

It was then that he started a series of elegant experiments with bees that combine biology and engineering, and have transformed our understanding of the insect world. He has found that:

1) Bees fly through the middle of a tunnel by balancing the speeds of the images in the two eyes. Four robotics laboratories have used these results to construct robots that navigate through corridors.

2) Bees regulate their flight speed by matching the speed of the images in each eye. They fly fast in open terrain and slow down to a safer speed in densely cluttered terrain.

3) Honeybees measure distance flown in terms of the extent to which the image of the environment moves in the eye. Thus, bees possess a visually-driven “odometer”.

4) Bees land smoothly by ensuring that their view of the surface stays at a constant speed. As the surface gets closer it appears to be moving faster, so the bee slows down. The result – a perfect landing – and a landing technique that Srini is now trialling using model aircraft.

Srini’s findings are informing robotics research around the world. His team’s projects include:

One of his current projects looks at angry bees. When their hive is threatened, bees rush out and immediately attack any moving object in range. The US Air Force is interested in this capability.

What of the future? “Today we are trying to create small conventional aircraft with the brains of a bee. The future challenge is to bring in the engineering of a bee – micro flyers that can do what bees do,” says Srini.

But Srini is most excited about the potential to learn about emotion and cognition from bees.

“I’ve seen bees show frustration, anger, even joy,” he says. “I’m planning a new series of experiments that will determine if they really can experience emotion. If so, bees could transform our view of emotion and cognition across the animal kingdom.”

Autobiographical details

Qualifications

1977 Ph.D. (Engineering and Applied Science), Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

1973 M.Phil. in Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University, New Haven Connecticut, USA

1970 Masters' degree in Applied Electronics & Servomechanisms (High Distinction), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

1968 Bachelors' degree in Electrical Engineering (First Class), Bangalore University, India

Current positions

ANU Distinguished Professor, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University

Previous Appointments

1992-93 Senior Fellow, Visual Sciences, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University

1985-91 Fellow, Visual Sciences, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University

1982-85 Assistant Professor of Biophysics, Department of Neurobiology, University of Zürich, Switzerland.

1978-82 Research Fellow, Departments of Neurobiology and Applied Mathematics, Australian National University

1977-78 Research Scientist, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Research interests

Principles of visual processing in simple natural systems, and their application to machine vision and robotics.

Awards and Distinctions

1996-97 Daimler-Benz Fellow (Wissenschaftskolleg), Institute of Advanced Studies, Berlin.

1970 Khambatti Memorial Award for top graduate student in Electrical Engineering,

1967 First rank (out of 500 students), Fourth Year Electrical Engineering, Bangalore University

Publications

161 full-length research publications, including 15 in journals such as Nature and Science, 35 reviews, 1 edited book, 2 international patents.

Grants

2001-05 $5.0 million from the ARC, and Australian and overseas defence research organisations.

Major lectures

2001-05 35 invited keynote, plenary, opening, and named lectures at international and national conferences. Address to the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, 5 December 2002.

Professor Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan receives the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for a remarkable and unique research career that has revealed the working of the insect mind, and helped redefine robotics research.

Professor Allan Snyder is Director of the Centre for the Mind, a joint venture of the Australian National University and the University of Sydney.

“Professor Srinivasan pioneered the understanding of how insects navigate our world. He ingeniously applied these principles of insect navigation to devise novel forms of seeing machines for unmanned planetary explorations and low flying microfliers for tactical surveillance. He has richly contributed to Australia's high scientific profile. I first met him when we were both working at the Yale School of Medicine in the 1970s. Personally, Srini is one of the warmest, most generous scientists with whom I have had the pleasure to collaborate.”

Dr Alex Zilinsky is Director of the CSIRO ICT Centre.

“Professor Srinivasan has made substantial breakthroughs in the understanding of visual insect navigation, through a sustained and unrelenting effort in studying honey bees. The significance of Professor Srinivasan’s work is that if the visual navigation mechanisms of honey bees can be understood, it would then be possible to control unmanned flying vehicles. This will have enormous commercial and public good usages in emergency situations, national defence and space exploration.”

Professor Sue Serjeantson is Executive Secretary of the Australian Academy of Science.

“Professor Srinivasan was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1995 and to the Royal Society of London in 2001 in recognition of his novel and outstanding contributions in the visual sciences. Srini is an exceptional scientist who has brought his mathematical ability and training as an engineer to experimental design. These creative experiments have revolutionised our understanding of insect vision and insect flight. Srini has received international recognition and acclaim for incorporating this knowledge into robots, or machines, that see.”

Where do we live? And what’s the neighbourhood like? Astronomer Naomi McClure-Griffiths has set about answering these questions with the help of “The Dish”, the 64-metre Parkes radio telescope.

Her research has dramatically reshaped our knowledge of the structure and evolution of our galactic home – the Milky Way.

It turns out that we don’t really know what our galaxy looks like. The familiar images of our galaxy are really little more than guesses.

“Studying the shape of the galaxy from Earth is like an ant studying Sydney from a suburban garden in Penrith,” says Naomi.

But that’s exactly the challenge this 31-year-old radio astronomer has taken on. Her studies of the Milky Way over the past ten years have already led to the discovery of a new spiral arm, and changed many long-held ideas about the evolution of our galaxy.

Just five years after completing her PhD, Naomi, a Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow at the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, is now recognised internationally as an expert on the Milky Way.

For her insight into the structure of our galaxy, and her research leadership, Naomi McClure-Griffiths has been awarded the 2006 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Naomi says she fell into astronomy, having entered college hoping to do physics or French. “I had a very good professor who happened to be a radio astronomer. You can study really small or really big things in physics. The public finds the really big more interesting so I thought there was a better future in that.”

Naomi first came to Australia and the Parkes radio telescope as an undergraduate student. Within hours of her arrival, she was standing on “The Dish”, before starting her first night of observing.

“I fell in love with the telescope, Australia, and its unique view of the Milky Way. The galactic centre is directly overhead when you’re in the southern hemisphere. That’s what makes astronomy in Australia special,” says Naomi.

Naomi relocated permanently to Australia in 2001 as a CSIRO Bolton Post Doctoral Fellow at the Australia Telescope National Facility. Her research has focussed on the structure and dynamics of hydrogen gas in the Milky Way. Hydrogen is the most pervasive atom in the universe and it acts as a tracer, outlining the shape of the Milky Way and telling the story of the evolution of its interstellar medium – the gases and dust between stars.

While doing her PhD, Naomi led the Southern Galactic Plane Survey, which mapped the hydrogen gas in over half of the stellar disk of the Milky Way for the International Galactic Plane Survey.

Naomi used the survey results to study our galaxy’s “weather” – the movement of interstellar gas over hundreds of thousands of years. In particular she studied huge bubbles blown in the disk of our galaxy by the explosion of massive stars. She has found most of the large bubbles, or shells, known from the Southern Milky Way, and has shown how these holes act to sweep away interstellar gas and shred the spiral arms in the galaxy. Where these holes have broken through the plane of the galaxy, huge chimneys of relatively empty space have been created. Naomi has personally discovered two chimneys, one of which is the only one known to extend through the top and bottom of the galactic plane.

In 2004 she expanded her research to include looking at the structure of the galaxy as a whole. As a result, she discovered a new spiral arm. Now, astronomers are redrawing the map of the galaxy.

Naomi is now the Principal Investigator on the Galactic All Sky Survey, leading a team to create the most sensitive and high resolution all-sky atlas of hydrogen. Despite offers of prestigious fellowships to return to the US, Naomi plans to stay in Australia, and hopes one day to use the proposed Square Kilometre Array telescope to compare our galaxy with other galaxies.

“McClure-Griffiths is one of the strongest leaders in astronomy of her generation in the world.”

John Dickey, Professor and Head of Discipline in Physics, University of Tasmania

Autobiographical Details

2001-04 Bolton Post-Doctoral Fellow, Australian Telescope National Facility, CSIRO

Career Highlights

2003 Best Dissertation Award, Physical Sciences and Engineering, University of Minnesota

Research Highlights

Professor Bryan Gaensler from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Sydney has worked closely with Naomi on many projects.

“Naomi McClure-Griffiths has carved an enormous niche for herself in the study of hydrogen in the Milky Way, and in the process has established herself as one of the world's premier observational astronomers. Naomi is unbelievably good at discovering remarkable new things hidden in vast data-sets; over the last five years, she has taken a well-established area of astronomy and turned it upside-down.”

Dr Ron Ekers is Federation Fellow and past chair of the International Astronomical Union, Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), CSIRO. He knows Naomi through her work as a John Bolton Post-Doctoral Fellow with CSIRO's ATNF.

“Naomi likes to tackle the big problems in astronomy and she does so with a broad perspective. Her specialty is the cycle of birth and death of stars and she is now the worlds expert in the way the gas from the exploding stars can eventually returned to form new stars. She is a passionate observational astronomer with a big vision. She has been undaunted by the major international coordination needed to lead a huge observing programs using the worlds largest telescopes from both hemispheres. Naomi is a natural and inspirational leader, and is an excellent scientist and I am sure Malcolm Macintosh would have been very proud of what she has already achieved.”

He has known Dr McClure Griffiths since 1996 when he was her thesis adviser for her PhD at the University of Minnesota. He described her then as "the best young scientist we ever had on our graduate program in the 22 years that I was there".

“McClure Griffiths is one of the strongest leaders in astronomy of her generation in the world. Australia leads the world in radio astronomy. We have some of the most modern and most technically advanced telescopes. The Parkes telescope has the newest and most competitive receivers on it, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array at Narrabri is one of the most advanced interferometers in the world.

What Naomi worked out was how to bring out the best qualities of each telescope to get a detailed map of large areas of the sky. She pioneered the application of that technique on the entire Milky Way and although she is still very young she has already made a significant stamp on her field.”

Professor Brian Boyle is Director of the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility.

“I am absolutely delighted that Naomi's outstanding achievements have been recognised by the award of this year's Malcolm McIntosh Prize. Using Australia's world-class radio telescopes, Naomi has re-written the textbooks on our understanding of our own Milky Way galaxy thorough extensive observations of hydrogen gas in the Galaxy. This has very important implications for how our own galaxy and, indeed, other galaxies formed. The Malcolm McIntosh Prize is a well-deserved recognition of the impact of Naomi's science on the world stage. I am also delighted that Australian astronomy can provide the environment and access to leading-edge facilities that enables scientists of Naomi's calibre to flourish.”

If proteins are the molecular building blocks of our bodies, then proteases are the demolition team – cutting up used proteins and breaking down damaged cells.

But who is in charge of the demolition team? In many cases it’s a group of molecules collectively known as serpins. When they don’t do their job properly, devastating diseases such as liver cirrhosis, thrombosis, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can result.

James Whisstock is a serpins guru. He and his team are using x-ray crystallography, synchrotron light and other tools to piece together how serpins do their job – and what happens when they don’t. Along the way he is finding new opportunities for drug discovery.

At just 35 years of age, James has published more than 90 papers in high quality journals and leads a team of 18 researchers at Monash University.

For his discoveries of novel serpins, and his research leadership in protein biology, James Whisstock receives the 2006 Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year.

Ten years ago James left his home in the UK to join a new team researching proteases led by Professor Stuart Stone. Tragically, Professor Stone died before James arrived but Stone’s legacy was a team that has now developed into one of the largest concentrations of scientists studying these proteins in the world.

James “fell in love with Australia” – taking up citizenship in 2004. “It’s been a fabulous research environment. I have had fabulous mentors and collaborators, and that’s allowed my team to push the boundaries.”

Now with a five year programme grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), as well as senior research fellowships from Monash University and the NHMRC, James has found the freedom and flexibility in Australia to identify and study key questions about proteases and serpins.

Among his group’s discoveries is the structure of a serpin that prevents breast and prostate cancer.

The team has also shown the key role that a serpin called MENT plays in packing two metres of DNA into the nucleus of each of our trillions of cells. Errors in the packaging process, however, can cause uncontrolled gene transcription and the development of cancers such as leukaemia.

Whisstock’s group has also identified the structure of antichymotrypsin, a serpin that polices the proteases involved in inflammation. Without this controller, the proteases could start destroying healthy tissue.

Until recently, serpins had only been found in multicellular organisms such as plants and higher animals. But James and his team have found them in bacteria, including some that live in very hot water – unusual as serpins can quickly be destroyed by heat. The bacteria’s ability to protect serpin structure could be of benefit to human biology.

James is currently leading a $6.5 million collaboration on protease systems biology, and is also director of the Victorian Bioinformatics Consortium. He is seen as a strong mentor, with one of his students recently receiving a Premier’s Award for the best PhD student in Victoria.

What of the future? Much of James’ work involves x-ray crystallography. “Synchrotron light has revolutionised the field. What once took years, now takes days,” says James. “So, several times a year I go to the US to get access to synchrotron light. Next year I will only have to travel a few hundred yards, to the new Australian synchrotron. It will have a profound effect on the speed of our discoveries.”

“I was greatly impressed, almost astonished, at the breadth and depth of research he was leading with his group and associates in Monash. His work, on the application of bioinformatics to areas with direct medical relevance, is proving to be exceptionally productive.”

Robin Carrell, Emeritus Professor of Haematology, University of Cambridge

“This is a brilliant career trajectory in a very short space of time.”

Professor Warwick Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, NHMRC

Autobiographical Details

1999-2002 NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow, Monash University Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

1998-99 Monash University Research Fund Fellow, Monash University Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

1997-98 Monash University Faculty of Medicine Research Fellow, Monash University Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Career Highlights

2005-09 A chief investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics

Research highlights

Papers revealing the fine molecular detail of shape change in serpins as well as insights into how this change traps target proteases.

Described the x-ray crystal structure of the human tumour suppressor maspin, as well as the structure of myeloid and erythroid nuclear termination stage-specific protein (MENT), a serpin found in the nucleus which interacts with DNA. His group also discovered the first serpins in bacteria suggesting an ancient origin.

Using his knowledge of serpin biology, James has explored how other protein families can undergo inappropriate changes in shape. He has studied how single amino acid repeats are susceptible to mis-folding, a process which underlies several debilitating human neurodegenerative conditions such as Huntington’s disease.

Since 2002, James has led projects which have attracted funding of almost $8 million. These include a recent ARC LIEF grant to establish a high throughput protein production facility and a NHMRC program grant in Protease Systems Biology. Additionally, James is a chief investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics ($17 million funding).

He has given over 50 invited seminars at universities and institutes around the world.

Professor Christina Mitchell is Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Monash University.

“James Whisstock is a brilliant and contagiously enthusiastic young scientist who is characterising how proteins function and misfunction within cells using a variety of cutting edge techniques including bioinformatics and X-ray crystallography.

His work has concentrated on a group of proteins called "serpins", that are important as when they misfunction they cause human diseases such as thrombosis, liver cirrhosis and dementia. James has assembled and mentored a large team of scientists and students to work together to determine the structure and function of serpins. His work is exciting and ground breaking.”

Professor Jamie Rossjohn from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash University.

“The award of the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year to Associate Professor James Whisstock duly recognises his achievements as a scientist, a mentor and his research leadership role. James, alongside his colleagues, has made a sustained and impressive contribution to the field of proteases and their proteinacious inhibitors, the serpins. These important proteins play diverse roles in biology, including controlling bacterial virulence, regulating blood clotting, controlling inflammation and packaging DNA. His multi- pronged approach, effected by a broad network of collaborators, had enabled his team to make fundamental contributions to this important field of biomedical science.

These contributions, combined with the enthusiasm and passion James exudes for science, makes him a most worthy recipient of this prestigious prize.”

Anna Davis began teaching at Casimir Catholic School in Marrickville in 1998. Since her arrival, results across Year 12 science courses have improved by 17% and students now achieve above the state average.

For Anna, it is the culmination of 16 years of teaching and turning her own passion for science into words, thereby helping students in some of Sydney’s more challenging schools achieve beyond their and their community’s expectations.

She has contributed to the education of countless students who have benefited from her innovative teaching plans, ideas and materials, and her inspirational leadership and mentoring of other teachers.

Anna Davis receives the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools for her proven commitment to science teaching and professional development.

While Anna cites her own chemistry teacher as an inspiration, her early academic career was far from illustrious – quitting university the first time around after three years. She found work as a laboratory technician at a school in Randwick, Sydney and, when given the opportunity to assist with classes, soon found a passion for the classroom and returned to university to qualify as a science teacher.

Since 1990, Anna has worked at three schools, each with high numbers of students from non-English speaking backgrounds and high levels of family unemployment.

“My whole aim is to give these kids a better future than they would have otherwise,” Anna explains. “It’s about challenging them to get the best results they can, to open up as many doors in the future as they can.”

Since joining Casimir Catholic College as science coordinator, Anna has placed great emphasis on staff development and a reflective approach to teaching.

“We look at what worked with each class, what didn’t and what we can learn.” says Anna.

A colleague describes her excitement about science and science teaching as “infectious” and that she has an ability to “switch her students on to science.”

“I make the children think,” Anna explains of her approach, adding that she rarely answers a question herself. “It’s about getting them to think about science and to verbalise their understanding.”

As a result, Casimir’s average grades across HSC science subjects have improved by 17%, and the numbers of students taking science subjects is steadily increasing.

Anna’s leadership goes far beyond her own school. She is a leading light in the Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales and contributed to the 2005 Early Careers Professional Learning Course, a programme providing training and mentoring to newly qualified science teachers in the state – the success of which means the programme is be repeated in 2006.

“We start by saying “don’t assume people know things, ensure they do,” Anna says of the programme.

Anna also routinely presents sessions and workshops for the Association throughout metropolitan and country New South Wales. Her commitment to the Association is entirely voluntary and this year she begins her third year as an executive member.

“I believe in the kids and I want to do what I can to give the students the best,” says Anna.

“By sharing materials and what we are doing, we are ensuring people in other schools can do a better job. I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel.”

Autobiographical details

Career highlights

2004 Outstanding Professional Service Award, Professional Teachers Council of New South Wales – awarded for her coordination of the Earthworm Environmental Awards and of activities days at “Science is Fabulous Fun” at Australia's Wonderland and Luna Park

2002 Distinguished Service Award, Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales – awarded for her contribution to a series of state and national teachers’ conferences

2002 Catholic Education Office’s Executive Director’s Award for Excellence in Teaching

Contribution to science teaching

A leader in the Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales (STANSW), on the council four times since joining the profession in 1990, including as Secretary (2004-05) and Vice President (2006-07).

Presenter in the Early Careers Professional Learning Course, helping new teaching staff.

Presenter of AGQTP Professional Development courses for the Sydney Catholic Education Office.

Coordinated and member of the writing team for the trial HSC Chemistry paper (2002-04) for the Catholic Secondary Schools Association of New South Wales.

Represents the New South Wales Catholic Education Commission on the Board Curriculum Committee for Years 7 to 12 Science when it considers syllabus changes in the state.

Member of Council for the Australian Science Teachers’ Association (since 2006)

Marjorie Colvill has a clear idea of the perfect science class. It is one in which students set up their own investigations and make their own discoveries – and she has the proof that it works. From kindergarten and primary, to student teachers – she has taught them all. Not only that, Marj is now looking forward to building on her initial research, which indicates that good primary science teaching also enhances literacy!

With nearly 30 years devoted to education and science, the Tasmanian teacher has spread her passion for science from the classrooms of the state’s primary schools to the lecture halls of its university, at the same time finding time to hold a range of positions within the state’s Department of Education.

A passionate and outstanding science educator, Marj has headed both the state and national science teachers’ associations and hopes next year – at almost 60 – to complete her doctorate of science education.

For inspirational primary school teaching and for her commitment to the development of science teaching at all levels, Marjorie Colvill is awarded the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools.

Marj first experienced practical science on her family’s outback farm. Science was not a distance education subject, but her mother was a teacher and ensured that she didn’t miss out.

Despite a science teacher later in her life telling her “the only way you’ll get to a science lab is in a specimen bottle”, Marj worked as a laboratory technician at the Australian National University and renewed her fascination with science and its role in “shaping our understanding of the world”.

After a posting to Papua New Guinea in the early 1970s gave Marj a taste of kindergarten teaching, she was inspired to acquire formal qualifications. She quickly realised the role science can play in every classroom, even in kindergarten. Her practical skills in curriculum development were noticed and she jumped into a role as a science curriculum officer for north Tasmania.

Her classroom career has spanned the primary years, with her current role involving the teaching of science from Prep to Grade 6 at Perth Primary School, near Launceston. Marj’s teaching focus is on encouraging investigation – observations about tadpoles, determining if people with big feet run faster, exploring the melting properties of ice-blocks, or using dead bees to pollinate plants.

“When a little person looks at you and the light bulb of understanding comes on, it’s the best buzz,” says Marj. “And I get the same buzz when I see the same moment of realisation in young teachers – when they realise that science needn’t be scary.”

Marj sees teacher education as one of the big challenges for science in primary schools. “Many primary teachers are scared of science, they didn’t enjoy it at school, and they avoid it in training,” she says. “I had to convince our future primary schools teachers that science is important and that they could do it.”

For the past 20 years, Marj has been an active member of the Science Teachers’ Association of Tasmania (STAT), serving as its president for four years. At the national level, she has been involved, for the past 14 years, with the Australian Science Teachers’ Association (ASTA), the peak body for science education in Australia, serving as its president and editing its primary science journal for four years.

As well as teaching, Marj is completing a Doctorate in Education where she hopes to scale up her study of quality science teaching and its ability to enhance children’s literacy skills.

“I want our kids, when they leave school, to be informed so they can ask the right questions. So when we have a major debate, on perhaps the use of stem cells or GM foods, they can ask the right questions and not be victims of someone else’s agenda.”

Autobiographical details

1978 Bachelor of Education (biology major), Tasmanian State Institute of Technology

1978-87 Primary school teacher at Summerdale Primary, Evendale Primary and Exeter Primary, Northern Tasmania

Significant achievements

In 1997, was one of two primary school teachers to be members of the Australian Science Technology and Engineering Council (ASTEC) which investigated the state of primary science and technology education in Australia. The findings were reported to the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Technology Council and resulted in the study that led to the influential report entitled The Status and Quality of Teaching and Learning of Science in Australian Schools.

In 2006, trained as a facilitator for the Australian Academy of Science’s Primary Connections Science and Literacy professional development programme for primary teachers.

Scientists react to news of the winners of the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science

Australia’s most prestigious annual science prizes will be awarded at a black tie ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra tonight (Mon 16 October).
Bees, serpins and the Milky Way are the research subjects of three winners of the 2006 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science that have become our national tribute for excellence in Australian science.

The major prize, the Prime Minister's Prize for Science, is one of the nation’s most highly-regarded awards and the premier national award for scientific achievement.
The Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year and the Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year are awarded to scientists who are thirty-five years of age or younger, and are designed to highlight our early-stage career scientists that are producing world-class research.

Prime Ministers Prizes for Science 2006

An automatic landing system for an aircraft is expensive and complex. And it is just one of many systems that would be required to make a truly robotic aircraft.

But a bee can take off, find targets, fly through tunnels, navigate home, and land without any of that complexity. It uses a minute brain of about a million nerve cells, which is the size of a sesame seed and weighs just a tenth of a milligram.

Mandyam Srinivasan – known to all as Srini – has dedicated his research career to understanding just how bees work.

What started 23 years ago as basic research with no apparent application, is now followed closely by robotics experts around the world, and routinely receives NASA and US military grants.

Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan FAA FRS receives the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for a remarkable and unique research career that has revealed the working of the insect mind, and helped redefine robotics research.

Autobiographical details

Qualifications

Current positions

Previous Appointments

Research interests

Awards and Distinctions

Publications

Grants

Major lectures

Professor Allan Snyder is Director of the Centre for the Mind, a joint venture of the Australian National University and the University of Sydney.

Dr Alex Zilinsky is Director of the CSIRO ICT Centre.

Professor Sue Serjeantson is Executive Secretary of the Australian Academy of Science.

Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

Where do we live? And what’s the neighbourhood like? Astronomer Naomi McClure-Griffiths has set about answering these questions with the help of “The Dish”, the 64-metre Parkes radio telescope.

Her research has dramatically reshaped our knowledge of the structure and evolution of our galactic home – the Milky Way.

It turns out that we don’t really know what our galaxy looks like. The familiar images of our galaxy are really little more than guesses.

“Studying the shape of the galaxy from Earth is like an ant studying Sydney from a suburban garden in Penrith,” says Naomi.

But that’s exactly the challenge this 31-year-old radio astronomer has taken on. Her studies of the Milky Way over the past ten years have already led to the discovery of a new spiral arm, and changed many long-held ideas about the evolution of our galaxy.

Just five years after completing her PhD, Naomi, a Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow at the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, is now recognised internationally as an expert on the Milky Way.

For her insight into the structure of our galaxy, and her research leadership, Naomi McClure-Griffiths has been awarded the 2006 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year.

Autobiographical Details

Career Highlights

Research Highlights

Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year

If proteins are the molecular building blocks of our bodies, then proteases are the demolition team – cutting up used proteins and breaking down damaged cells.

But who is in charge of the demolition team? In many cases it’s a group of molecules collectively known as serpins. When they don’t do their job properly, devastating diseases such as liver cirrhosis, thrombosis, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can result.

James Whisstock is a serpins guru. He and his team are using x-ray crystallography, synchrotron light and other tools to piece together how serpins do their job – and what happens when they don’t. Along the way he is finding new opportunities for drug discovery.

At just 35 years of age, James has published more than 90 papers in high quality journals and leads a team of 18 researchers at Monash University.

For his discoveries of novel serpins, and his research leadership in protein biology, James Whisstock receives the 2006 Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year.

Autobiographical Details

Career Highlights

Research highlights

Anna Davis began teaching at Casimir Catholic School in Marrickville in 1998. Since her arrival, results across Year 12 science courses have improved by 17% and students now achieve above the state average.

For Anna, it is the culmination of 16 years of teaching and turning her own passion for science into words, thereby helping students in some of Sydney’s more challenging schools achieve beyond their and their community’s expectations.

She has contributed to the education of countless students who have benefited from her innovative teaching plans, ideas and materials, and her inspirational leadership and mentoring of other teachers.

Anna Davis receives the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools for her proven commitment to science teaching and professional development.

Autobiographical details

Career highlights

Contribution to science teaching

A passionate and outstanding science educator, Marj has headed both the state and national science teachers’ associations and hopes next year – at almost 60 – to complete her doctorate of science education.

For inspirational primary school teaching and for her commitment to the development of science teaching at all levels, Marjorie Colvill is awarded the 2006 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools.

Autobiographical details

Significant achievements