BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | March 10, 2017

Dear all,

There were some great activities this week with the International Women’s Day morning tea and Welcome to First Year Biology BBQ (see pictures below).  Special thanks to those staff who helped out with the BBQ and mingled happily with the students. For those of you who weren’t able to be at the department meeting on Tuesday, you can find the slides here. Next week we have the celebration for Mark Westoby to mark his retirement – see you there!

cheerio,

Michelle

Save the Date

This coming week 13th – 17th March

Mon 13th: Celebration of Mark Westoby on his Retirement; 4pm Biology Courtyard (or Tearoom if raining).

Wed 15th: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; The Hill.

Wed 15th: Weekly Seminar – Dr Geertje van der Heijden of University of Nottingham, UK – The Role of Lianas in Shaping Carbon Accumulation and Storage in Tropical Forests; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 16th: New Student Inductions; 11am – 12 noon; E8C-212.

Following week 20th – 24th March

Wed 22nd: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 22nd: Weekly Seminar – Dr Marko Miliša of University of Zagreb, Croatia; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 23rd: MRes Seminars; 9am onwards; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Coming up

June 13 – 15th: HDR Conference; Timetable TBA; Location TBA.

Department seminar schedule

Mar 29th: Weekly Seminar – Professor David Warton of University of NSW; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Apr 5th: Weekly Seminar – Associate Professor Clare McArthur of University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Apr 12th: Weekly Seminar – Professor John Mattick, Executive Director, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

General News and Announcements

First Year Undergraduate Welcome BBQ a Great Success

It was a fun event and students had the opportunity to talk to all first year staff, and attend the academic advising booth.  There was food and drink aplenty, and networking opportunities.

International Women’s Day

On Wednesday the 8^th March the Faculty of Science and Engineering celebrated International Women’s Day and launched the University’s Workplace Gender Equity Strategy. The faculties Executive Dean Professor Barbara Messerle launched the universities Workplace Gender Equity Strategy and introduced Physics Professor Orsola De Marco and Biology’s Dr Elizabeth Madin (pictured). Both women reflected and celebrated the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, as well as highlighting the important work still to be done to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Thankyou both for your remarkable stories and inspirational words.

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES

Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 15th March, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room)

Speaker: Dr Geertje van der Heijden of University of Nottingham, UK

Title: The Role of Lianas in Shaping Carbon Accumulation and Storage in Tropical Forests

Abstract: Navigation requires the coordination between different type of actions (e.g., choosing a direction, going forward etc…), and the control mechanisms that ‘triggers’ these actions is often characterised as decision making. In the first part of this talk, we will see that distinct actions can spontaneously emerge from simple, continuous processes without the need to ‘trigger’ or ‘select’ actions. Such processes can provide a generalist solution to various navigational tasks from simple taxis behaviour as observed in fruit fly larva to complex visual route following as observed in ants. In the second part of this talk, we will see that ants construct additional, more sophisticated representations. These enable the higher behavioural flexibility required to solve more challenging navigational tasks, such as being displaced by wind, or needing to drag a heavy cookie backward.

Not the Expected Results

Alex Schnell’s PhD has become a comic book!

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/comic/cuttlefish-brawl

TREE Review

Rob Harcourt has recently had a paper published in TREE The Ecology of Human Mobility which in itself is an achievement, however, more importantly two members of our department are now famous, and we don’t mean the seals!!! Autographs are available via HOD office………

Plant of the Week

For this week – Plumbago auriculata – a blue flowered shrub, one of many, many garden plants originating from South Africa.

Field Friendly Facelift Set for 17th March

Just a reminder that our new Field Friendly interface will be going live next week. It will now be rolling out on Friday 17th March as we have had to delay by a few days. Again, this is an aesthetics and usability improvement. The procedures and workflow of the program remains the same. We hope you like the enhancements.

Researcher for Urban Wildlife Program, Bayside Council

Bayside Council (City of Botany Bay and Rockdale City Councils) have contacted the Department to see if there are any researchers interested in designing an evaluation survey for urban wildlife habitats created for an Environmental Trust project.

The council have been working with the community to create urban habitats such as nest boxes and bee hives with the aim of bringing to more wildlife into backyards. Bayside Council are keen to collaborate with a researcher and student to measure the effectiveness of this program. This could be a great opportunity as a PACE or Masters project.

For more information contact Leigh Staas <leigh.staas@mq.edu.au>.

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Scottish Government, invites applications for its PhD or split-site PhD study Commonwealth scholarships for developed Commonwealth country citizens. These enable developed Commonwealth country citizens to study a PhD or split-site PhD in the UK. Awards are tenable at any approved UK university for a specific programme of study or research and are not restricted to any particular subject area. The PhD scholarships provide support for completion of a three-year full-time doctoral postgraduate qualification at an eligible UK university with the aim of promoting world-class research and to contribute to UK higher education by attracting high-calibre international candidates and encouraging links. Split-site PhD scholarships provide support for study at an eligible UK university as part of a PhD being undertaken in the applicant’s home country, under the joint supervision of home country and UK academics, with the aim of widening access to UK equipment and expertise for high-calibre doctoral candidates from Commonwealth countries. Applications close on the 21st March 2017.

Volunteers Needed

ANU University is looking for long term Sydney-based volunteers till the end of the year. This is a rare opportunity for those of you who are interested in paleo-anth/bio or those interested in conservation behavioural science. For more details around the study see below:-

• Ideal candidates – 2^nd or 3^rd year Bio Anthropology/human biology students who are interested in great ape behaviour and conservation science.
• About the research – primate enrichment behaviour study involving chimps and orangutans and seeking assistance in video coding their behaviours.
• Location – Training and sessions will be conducted at Newington (Olympic Park).
• Availability – Wednesdays and Thursdays (11am – 5pm)
  • This will be an ongoing study till end of the year and so your weekly commitment is required till then so please do not apply if you cannot commit to this (If you show a keen interest and aptitude, we will consider keeping you on for further parts of the research).

The Pawsey Roadshow

The Pawsey Roadshow is an event showcasing services and resources that Pawsey Supercomputing Centre provides to researchers across Australia. This free event will have staff from Pawsey representing the organisation and answering questions from researchers who would like to take advantage of HPC and related services.

If you are a researcher or student, who is interested in high-performance computing, or if you want to see if your work can be taken to the next level by using powerful computing resources, we welcome you to RSVP and come along and meet with Pawsey users and staff. Be aware that you are required to book each event separately.

Details of the event are as follow:

SYDNEY 22 -23 March

Venue:

University of New South Wales, Kensington

Hugh Dixson Theatre, AGSM Building, Gate 11,

Kensington, New South Wales 2052 Australia

To attend please RSVP here by March 16^th

Morning Session March 22^nd – Roadshow

10.30am Welcome by Luc Betbeder-Matibet, Director Research Technology Services at University of New South Wales (UNSW)

10.40am Presentation from Pawsey researchers

Dr Karen Lee-Waddell, CSIRO Astronomer

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a brand-new telescope that utilizes innovative technology to carry out wide-field astronomical observations with unprecedented survey speed, sensitivity and resolution.  The tremendous amount of data produced by ASKAP is a significant challenge for current computing capabilities. ASKAP recently started Early Science observations and although processing this data has been pushing the limits of Pawsey Supercomputing system, preliminary results are very promising.

Computational Materials Design: The Power and the Passion, Prof Sean Smith, University of New South Wales

In the coming decade, theory and modelling will harness massive advances in high performance computing to enable an unprecedented acceleration in discovery and development of new materials for the energy, environment, health and IT sectors. I will overview selected programs in (i) discovery and development at the IMDC of the new “charge modulation electrocatalysis” technology and (ii) design of polymeric vectors for drug delivery. Both programs have benefitted enormously from the use of computing at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre.

11.20am Pawsey Supercomputing Staff. Supercomputing, Data and Visualisation services

11.45am Q&A and networking session

Afternoon Session March 22^nd – Training

1.00 pm – 4.00 pm Introduction to Supercomputing training session.

4.00pm – 5.00pm Sundowner – Your opportunity to help Pawsey shape the future of HPC in Australia

Morning Session March 23^rd – Astronomy Clinic 10.00 am – 12.00pm

Afternoon Session March 23^rd – Clinic for other sciences 1.00 pm – 3.00pm

About the training

Introduction to Supercomputing

After completing the training session, the attendee will be able to:

1. Understand basic parallel computing concepts and workflows
2. Understand the high-level architecture of a supercomputer
3. Use a basic workflow to submit a job and monitor it
4. Understand a resource request and know what to expect
5. Check basic usage and accounting information

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions