{"id":22121,"date":"2022-11-03T21:55:20","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T22:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/?p=22121"},"modified":"2022-11-03T23:47:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T23:47:39","slug":"uc-professors-exceptional-contribution-recognised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/2022\/11\/03\/uc-professors-exceptional-contribution-recognised\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Professors\u2019 Exceptional Contribution Recognised"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image\"<\/div>\n
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Friday, 4 November 2022, 10:52 am<\/b>
Press Release: University of Canterbury<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Outstanding professors who have retired from the
\nUniversity of Canterbury (UC) over the past year but
\ncontinue to contribute and inspire have been acknowledged at
\na celebration event.<\/p>\n

UC has appointed seven Emeritus
\nProfessors in the last 12 months, including Alison Downard,
\nSchool of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Keith Alexander
\nDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Maan Alkaisi and Phil
\nBones, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
\nDave Kelly, School of Biological Sciences, David Norton
\nSchool of Forestry, and Rob Hughes, School of Psychology,
\nSpeech and Hearing.<\/p>\n

Emeritus Professor is an honorary
\ntitle awarded by the UC Council to retiring, long-serving
\nprofessors who have made an outstanding contribution to
\ntheir field.<\/p>\n

The University\u2019s new Emeritus
\nProfessors were celebrated at the P\u014d Whakam\u0101nawa |
\nCelebrating Excellence event held on campus this week to
\nacknowledge the accomplishments of UC academics.<\/p>\n

The
\nseven new Emeritus Professors are:<\/p>\n

Emeritus
\nProfessor Keith Alexander<\/strong>, who retired from UC\u2019s
\nMechanical Engineering Department in October, has a national
\nand international reputation for product innovation and
\ndevelopment, including designing the well-known Springfree
\ntrampoline, which prioritises safety. Springfree trampolines
\nhave sold over 500,000 models around the world.<\/p>\n

During
\nhis career he was a design engineer for Hamilton Jet, the
\nKiwi waterjet company, and worked on the Aquada, a
\nhigh-speed car that turns into a high-speed jet boat on the
\nwater.<\/p>\n

More recently he initiated the development of
\nthe Kera patient transfer system, a new way to safely
\ntransfer people with mobility issues.<\/p>\n

Emeritus
\nProfessor Maan Alkaisi<\/strong> was a founding member and a
\nprincipal investigator of the MacDiarmid Institute for
\nAdvanced Materials and Nanotechnology from 2002 to
\n2021.<\/p>\n

As a Professor in UC\u2019s Department of
\nElectrical and Computer Engineering, he led the
\nnanotechnology research group and played a significant role
\nin establishing the Nanofabrication
\nLaboratory.<\/p>\n

Emeritus Professor Alkaisi\u2019s interests
\ncover nanotechnology science and engineering, solar cells
\ndevelopment and fabrication and the interface between
\nphysics and biology.<\/p>\n

Emeritus Professor Phil
\nBones<\/strong> worked for 11 years as biomedical engineer in
\nthe Department of Cardiology, Canterbury Hospital Board,
\nChristchurch, and two years as postdoctoral fellow with
\ncardiac groups in Europe.<\/p>\n

He began working in UC\u2019s
\nDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1988
\nand retired from teaching in 2021.<\/p>\n

His research
\ninterests include biomedical engineering, neuromorphic
\ncomputing, image processing and medical
\nimaging.<\/p>\n

Emeritus Professor Alison
\nDownard<\/strong> is an internationally leading
\nelectrochemist who was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of
\nNew Zealand Te Ap\u0101rangi in 2014. In the same year she won a
\nprestigious distinction for international scientists, an
\nHonorary Doctorate from Universit\u00e9 de Rennes 1,
\nFrance.<\/p>\n

She was a Principal Investigator with the
\nMacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and
\nNanotechnology (2002-2021) and is a recipient of the Royal
\nAustralian Chemical Institute\u2019s RH Stokes medal (2014)
\nwhich recognises distinguished research in electrochemistry,
\ncarried out mainly in Australasia.<\/p>\n

Emeritus
\nProfessor Rob Hughes<\/strong> spent 57 years teaching at UC.
\nHe has research interests in behavioural pharmacology and
\ncomparative psychology and has investigated the effects of
\nbehaviourally active psychiatric and recreational drugs,
\nespecially caffeine.<\/p>\n

In recognition of his
\ncontribution, he has been awarded Fellowships of the NZ
\nPsychological Society, the Association for Psychological
\nResearch and the Psychological Society of Ireland.<\/p>\n

His
\nmany roles, nationally and internationally, include being a
\nmember of the New Zealand Ministry of Transport’s Working
\nParty on Detection of Drug Impairment in Drivers, (1987-89)
\nand a Mental Health Consultant for the United Nations World
\nHealth Organization to assess the use and availability of
\npsychotropic medication in Vietnam
\n(1995).<\/p>\n

Emeritus Professor Dave Kelly<\/strong>
\njoined Plant and Microbial Sciences (later Biological
\nSciences) at UC as a lecturer in 1985 and retired at the end
\nof 2021, although he continues to carry out
\nresearch.<\/p>\n

He is known internationally for his study of
\nmast seeding which is a significant conservation issue in
\nAotearoa New Zealand. His other major research area has been
\nthe impacts on pollination and fruit dispersal in the
\ndecline in Aotearoa New Zealand\u2019s bird fauna following the
\nintroduction of predatory exotic mammals (particularly
\nstoats and rats).<\/p>\n

He has collected many awards over
\nhis career, including the Te Tohu Taiao award from NZ
\nEcological Society (2000), Fellowship of the Royal Society
\nof New Zealand Te Aparangi (2002), UC Teaching Award (2011),
\nUC Research Medal (2013) and Hutton Medal
\n(2013).<\/p>\n

Emeritus Professor David
\nNorton<\/strong>, who retired from UC at the start of this
\nyear, has over 40 years\u2019 experience in Aotearoa New
\nZealand ecology and conservation biology issues.<\/p>\n

His
\nresearch spans Aotearoa New Zealand\u2019s native forests,
\nconservation and management of threatened plants, and
\nrestoration ecology.<\/p>\n

Over the last two decades, he has
\ndeveloped a strong relationship with the farming sector,
\nworking with farmers, the farming community and sector
\ngroups to promote biodiversity conservation and find ways to
\nbuild this into farm management planning, and he has
\ncontinued this work in his
\nretirement.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a9 Scoop Media<\/span><\/a>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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