• Research awards

Two research awards have recently been granted to Monash researchers.

School of Business Systems lecturer Dr Leonid Churilov received a Victoria Fellowship from the state government to continue investigating interactive computer modelling strategies aimed at improving the quality and responsiveness of health care.

He will use the $15,000 award to travel to several centres of excellence overseas, including the centre at the University of Toronto, Canada, to collaborate on research relating to decision support and systems analysis in public health care.

This will complement his current work, which aims to provide a coherent and systematic computer modelling framework for decision support in public health care.

Also, Dr Thomas Rich and Dr Pat Vickers-Rich, from the Earth Sciences department, have been selected as the recipient of a 2000 Committee for Research and Exploration Chairman's Award.

The $15,000 award will be used for field work in Alaska to pursue research on polar dinosaurs. The research relates directly to the pair's work along Victoria's south coast, where they are recovering the fossilised remains of south polar dinosaurs and primitive mammals.

• A taste of Italy

Italian painter and artist-in-residence Mr Maurizio Bottarelli is opening his exhibition, Le Risorse del Caso (The Resources of Chance), at the Faculty Gallery at Caulfield campus on 7 September.

The exhibition will be launched at 6 pm by Monash Centre Prato director Professor Bill Kent. For inquiries, contact extn 32882.

• Library services feedback

Monash staff and students are invited to take part in a web-based survey designed to gauge their views on the Monash University Library service.

The survey will be conducted from 4 to 17 September, and responses will be used to improve the library.

The survey is online at www.rodski.com.au/surveys/monash/index.cfm, and is also linked with various library web pages, including the Voyager catalogue.

Printed copies of the survey are available from the information desks at each Monash library.