Pawsey Welcomes 3 New Members to Its Board

March 9, 2023 — The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre has welcomed three new members to its Board of directors, with the additions to help define and accelerate its national and international growth strategies.

Sonya Walker and Mark Bazzacco join Pawsey’s Board as independent members, while Professor Amanda Barnard joins as a strategic advisor.

Walker joins Pawsey’s Board with more than 20 years’ experience facilitating strong strategic growth in the information technology, banking, finance, public and private sectors. She has successfully delivered go-to-market strategy, regional management plans, strategic alliances and industry partnerships as an Executive Partner at IBM and Infor, Oracle, RSA Security, SAS and SAP.

Bazzacco is the Chief of Research Technology & Operations of the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) at the Australian Department of Defence. At DSTG, he is responsible for research engineering, workforce and culture, and digital research infrastructure, including high performance computing. Prior to joining the Department of Defence, Mr Bazzacco worked in the university and government sectors, including as Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff at the CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency.

Professor Barnard is a leading computational scientist. She is a Senior Professor, Deputy Director, and Computational Science Lead at the Australian National University, where she leads research at the interface of computational modeling, high performance supercomputing, and applied machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Pawsey Chair Tim Shanahan said the new board members and advisor would play a key role in Pawsey’s growth and direction as it continues to support high-impact science of national and international importance.

“My new colleagues on the Board have all had such diverse and impressive careers, and I look forward to working together as Pawsey continues to deliver world-class technology that supports Australia’s social and economic growth,” Shanahan said.

“I also acknowledge the diverse experience, knowledge and national reach of our new Board members, which is important to support Pawsey’s regional and national responsibilities, delivering high-impact research in domains such as radio astronomy, engineering, bioinformatics, and health sciences.”

Executive Director Mark Stickells said the new Board members would bring a wealth of knowledge to inform Pawsey’s strategic direction.

“This is an exciting time in Pawsey’s history as we deliver Setonix and its exascale class supercomputing technology and services to Australian scientists,” said Stickells.

“Our new colleagues bring experience in leading high-growth companies, experience across government, defense, and innovation and leadership in HPC, machine learning and AI.”

“We look forward to their contributions as board members and are excited about their positive impact on our organization.”

The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre is an unincorporated joint venture between CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia. It is supported by the Western Australian and Australian Governments.

The Centre is one of two Tier-1 high-performance computing facilities in Australia, whose primary function is to accelerate scientific research for the benefit of the nation.

Sonya Walker

Sonya is an Executive Business Leader with strengths in building strong teams and delivering results. Sonya has played a key role in major organizational change initiatives with integrated commercial, business and digital transformation. Sonya enjoys propelling start-ups or mature and stagnant businesses into high growth and profitability by developing sound strategies and delivering highly targeted execution with excellence in operational management. She is a collaborative and carer leader, Sonya believes in their teams, uplift them and ‘walks the talk’ in supporting them in the success of their careers and lives. With a background in information technology, banking, finance, insurance, commercial and public sectors, she is engaged in numerous Boards & community projects. She has contributed as an MC, Panel Guest and Advisor for the Australian IT Industry Association (AIIA), ICT, Digital agenda, cloud, SaaS, sustainability & innovation initiatives.

Mark Bazzacco

Bazzacco is the Chief of Research Technology & Operations of the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) at the Australian Department of Defence. Mark joined Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) in 2022, bringing with him a deep understanding of research and innovation, including 20 years’ experience in the public service and a passion for leading the integral science and technology support services required by researchers.

Most recently, Mark held the Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff positions at CSIRO. As a part of the CSIRO Leadership team, Mark led the strategy, planning, performance and evaluation, investment and portfolio management functions. Mark has also served on several reviews and committees specific to science, research and innovation, including Science and Technology Australia (STA) and the Australian Research Council (ARC) Expert Advisory Committee for the review of Excellence in Research for Australia and the Engagement and Impact Assessment.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Masters of Business Administration and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Amanda Barnard

Professor Amanda Barnard currently leads research at the interface of computational modeling, high performance supercomputing, and applied machine learning and artificial intelligence at the Australian National University. With more than 20 years of HPC experience, she is a member of the Board of Directors for New Zealand eScience Infrastructure, the College of Assessors for the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment of New Zealand, the Expert Panel for the CRP scheme of the National Research Foundation of Singapore, and the Chair of the Australasian Leadership Computing Grants scheme. Her trans-disciplinary research has been awarded in five scientific disciplines, including the 2014 ACS Nano Lectureship (Asia/Pacific) from the ACS, the 2014 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory) from the Foresight Institute, and the 2019 AMMA Medal from the Association of Molecular Modellers of Australasia. In 2022 Prof Barnard was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to computational science and medical research.

About Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre

The Pawsey Centre is a world-class high-performance computing facility accelerating scientific discoveries for Australia’s researchers. Named for Australian scientist Joseph Pawsey, known as one of the pioneers of Australian radio astronomy for his work in the field of interferometry, Pawsey is currently serving over 2000 researchers achieving unprecedented results, in domains such as radio astronomy, energy and resources, engineering, bioinformatics and health sciences.

The Pawsey Centre is an unincorporated joint venture of CSIRO – Australia’s national science agency, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia.

The Australian Government supports the Pawsey Capital Refresh project through a $70 million grant. Pawsey is also supported by the Australian Government under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) through the Department of Education. The Centre would also like to acknowledge the support provided by the Western Australian Government and its partner organizations.

Source: Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre