Issue 2 - 7 February 2001

Multi-disciplinary skills needed in future

Science students of the future should be versatile and able to work in a multi-disciplinary environment, according to the new Science dean Professor Rob Norris.

Professor Norris (pictured), who took up his appointment on 2 January, said he wanted to ensure Monash science graduates could fit into a rapidly changing workforce.

"I think science students who will be well-prepared for the future will be those who have a good major in one or preferably two of the traditional science areas but who also have the ability to develop multi-disciplinary skills," he said.

"They will not only have all the normal graduate abilities in numeracy, literacy, communication and, more importantly, teamwork, they will also have the ability to react to change."

He hoped to introduce new courses into the faculty that would cross over several disciplines including chemistry, physics, biology and information technology.

These courses would include nanotechnology ­ the study and development of molecular devices ­ and bioinformatics, which involves handling data associated with large complex molecules such as DNA.

"The next big thing in science after biotechnology will be nanotechnology. It is based on the nanometre scale, which is one-thousand millionth of a metre," Professor Norris said.

"It's a step further down from microtechnology. Instead of having a microchip we could conceivably have the nanochip."

Professor Norris also has a strong interest in developing science education training, which would cross over with the Faculty of Education.

He said the imminent retirement of many secondary science teachers meant there would be a need to develop and train students to replace them.

A step towards achieving multi-disciplinary links is the establishment of seven interfaculty schools as outlined in the 'Science Forward' strategy.

The proposed schools would be Physics and Materials Engineering; Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine; Chemical Sciences; Applied Sciences and Engineering; Mathematical Sciences; Geosciences; and Biological Sciences.

Online library service boosts access to journals

Monash University students and staff can now access more than 750 journal titles online through a new library service called ScienceDirect.

Launched by vice-chancellor Professor David Robinson, ScienceDirect is the result of a new consortium agreement with academic publisher Reed Elsevier, the universities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Western Australia, the Australian National University and Monash.

Monash's digital resources librarian, Mr David Groenewegen, said the agreement would give each institution electronic access to an extra 400 journal titles until 2002, regardless of location or time.

"Impediments to journal access, such as postal delays, damage, loss, theft and demand by more than one user, will no longer be an issue," he said.

"By going electronic only, Monash receives a discount, which means that we will spend less on journals in 2001 than in 2000, yet receive access to significantly more titles."

A Year 11 student enters the IT world.

IT summer school engages students

More than 60 Year 11 students had a taste of information technology in the real world at the recent Unisys Monash IT Summer School.

The six-day residential program, the only one of its kind in Victoria, aims to give students a sound understanding of information technology and promote IT as a promising and lucrative career option.

The school included lectures and hands-on project workshops, as well as visits to industrial and scientific enterprises to see first-hand applications of IT.

Faculty of Information dean Professor John Rosenberg said these types of programs were essential for the IT industry.

"They expose students to the field of IT and arouse their interest in this area, which is vital because of the growing shortage of skilled IT professionals," he said.

Selection for the summer school is primarily based on academic results and school recommendations but emphasis is placed on achieving a balanced mix of students.

Participants include students from rural and metropolitan areas, private and public schools, and equal numbers of males and females.

Obituary Honorary Professorial Fellow Eric Glasgow (1931­2001) Professor Eric Glasgow, who had a 35-year association with Monash, died on 2 January aged 69. A gifted teacher, he won teaching awards from Monash, Stanford University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was credited by Federal Health Minister Dr Michael Wooldridge with teaching a significant proportion of Australia's doctors. Professor Glasgow conducted kidney research for many years with Professor Robert Atkins (now at Monash Medical Centre) and with Associate Professor Wayne Comper of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His research focused on aspects of kidney disease in children, kidney cell culture and protein handling. His service to medicine was recognised last year when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. His positions at Monash have included senior lecturer in anatomy in 1965, associate professor of anatomy in 1972, deputy chair of anatomy from 1972 to 1987 and honorary professorial fellow since 1994.

New emeritus professor retains legal interests

Monash's newest emeritus professor, Louis Waller, intends to remain active at the university and pursue his interest in legal medical issues and humanitarian causes.

After officially retiring last December, Professor Waller (left) said he would continue teaching 'Legal issues in medicine' and 'Elements of forensic medicine', subjects which were introduced into the Law School as a result of his work in law and medicine.

He was also interested in further research in controversial areas relating to "the beginnings and ends of life".

"I have become particularly interested in questions relating to the definition of death as a result of the remarkable developments in the area of resuscitation and the revival of people who were apparently dead according to traditional criteria," he said.

Professor Waller said family visits to Israel would give him the opportunity to further develop his links with the Hebrew and Tel Aviv universities, and he would also devote more time to the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation.

Improving access to justice, particularly in respect to resolving disputes more cheaply and quickly, is a field he also wishes to further explore.

Professor Waller said highlights of his time at Monash included seeing the graduations of the Law School's first students in 1969.

His distinguished career includes 35 years of service to the university, the publication of books and papers relating to criminal law, legal education, evidence, the administration of criminal justice, forensic medicine, medical technology and law reform.

Professor Waller was foundation chairman of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and the International Humanitarian Law Committee for the Australian Red Cross, foundation president of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, and founding member of the Monash Centre for Human Bioethics.

About 270 colleagues, former students and family attended his farewell dinner at the Grand Hyatt.

The Law School is now seeking financial contributions to establish the Louis Waller Chair of Law to commemorate Professor Waller's service to Monash.

Satellite symposium first at Monash

About 80 Japanese language teachers from the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors took part in the first satellite symposium on Japanese language education between Australia and Japan at Monash recently.

Online learning awards

The work of Monash academics stood out at the recent Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) Conference awards.

Faculty of Arts IT Centre director Professor Uschi Felix won an outstanding paper award for her report about a study that looked at the experience of students learning a language using the web. Sixty-three viable responses were received from questionnaires used in the study.

Professor Felix said the major finding of her study, 'A multivariate analysis of students' experience of web-based learning', was that the web was potentially a viable medium for language learning.

"This conclusion is supported by the qualitative data, which showed that the advantages of the web outweighed the disadvantages to a great extent, especially when technical problems were discounted," she said.

"The strongest preference was to use the web within face-to-face class teaching, while the weakest was for distance education without a tutor."

She said the results had design implications for future web technology, and she was now embarking on a study to develop a best practice model for online language learning.

The Australian Research Council will fund the study, which is a joint project with the Victorian School of Languages.

Also, Monash's Japanese online program Sakura, developed with a grant from the Strategic Innovations Fund, was short-listed for the award for the best application of computers to learning and teaching.

The website comprises interactive language learning materials for beginners of Japanese and is intended to reinforce and extend the material studied in class.

It includes exercises (to be used with class texts), tasks (to be completed by accessing information from external sites), a chat/communication facility for students and teachers, and links to other websites useful for learning Japanese.

The website was developed by Ms Takako Tomoda, Mr Brian May, Mr Peter Stagg, Mr David Askew and other programmers, and was managed by Professor Felix.

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